In the beginning 'twas the command line, and cmd was good, and it sufficed, for computing was the product. And we looked around and saw the IBM PC and Mac - and Amigas and STs and Commodores before them, and Spectra, and Lisas and IIe, all after their kind, and all was well - for they were computers.-
Then the OS became the product. And it needed glitz, and it needed a GUI. And so a GUI came. And then "updates" came - for we were now "online".-
And thus the "network" came, and we were "as one", and our compute was joined forevermore, and we could no more tell our children from our children's children and our old age from our youth. And sadness and pointlessness was turned "social" into glitz. And everything from our infirmity to praise went there as plain as day and dark as night for all to see. And all seemed well.-
And it came to pass that our user accounts went on the net, for they were "subscribed", and they were also "online", for they had lost their flavour. And the advertising came ...
Now, we ourselves are the product. The "network" is the computer, and much woe is to come. And there shall be much girding of our loins, off of our loins as well, for our hardrives and compute are places of consumption, rented out under pretense of service to those that run the bits.-
For now AI is also come, for we have ourselves trained it, with the fruit of our sweat and our tears. And all is well and will be well, for AI shall be unto us a confort in loneliness, and a hand in our fields and unto us an oracle for all truth and wisdom and even law - with time.-
And we forgot our code and became garrulous and forgetful of our trades and machinery, and we knew less and less with every season. And it became the law to know the code no longer, and the trades. For it was now a crime and deed of evil to gaze upon the code, or long for it, or learn, or have our trades as did our fathers.-
And the computer shall no more exist, for all will be compute.-
That’s good, but I just asked ChatGPT the following:
“Write a satirical mock history of computing starting from the Intel 286 all the way to Generative AI moralizing how we have lost our skills, good taste, hard work and common sense. Write it in the style of chapter one of Genesis. Show how generative AI and social media is wrecking society.”
It gave me:
“ *Chapter 1: The Book of Computation*
1. In the beginning, there was the Intel 286, and the 286 was with silicon, and the 286 was silicon. It was without GUI and void, and the darkness of DOS lay upon the face of the command line.
2. And IBM said, "Let there be PC," and there was PC. And IBM saw the PC, that it was good: and IBM divided the processors from the processes. IBM called the processors "CPU" and the processes "tasks." And there was upgrade and there was expansion, the first era.
3. And Intel said, "Let there be 386 to divide the computational labor from the inefficiency," and it was so. Intel made the 386, and it was faster and smarter, and the 286 was rendered obsolete. And the 386 begat the 486, each cycle more complex and wondrous than the last.
4. And Microsoft said, "Let there be Windows to shroud the command line," and it was so. And Windows brought forth a graphical interface, and icons were fruitful and multiplied, and they filled the screen.
5. And mankind saw the GUI, that it was good, and abandoned the keyboard for the mouse, for the work of clicking was easier than the work of typing.
6. And so mankind said, "Let us build systems to do our labor for us, to manage our tasks, to entertain our senses," and they created software in their image. The software begat applications, and applications begat bloatware, and bloatware begat frustration and sloth.
7. Then came the era of the Pentium, and computing begat the internet, and the internet begat the world wide web. And Netscape and Internet Explorer vied for dominion over the realms of browsing. And mankind said, "Let us make social media in our likeness, and let it have dominion over our attention, and over our conversations, and over all the data we generate."
8. And so Facebook and Twitter were brought forth, and they saw that it was addictive. And mankind became a creature of likes and shares, of retweets and posts, and all the earth was filled with selfies and memes.
9. And the data scientists said, "Let there be algorithms to govern our feeds, to show us what we desire before we know we desire it," and it was so. The algorithms brought forth echo chambers and filter bubbles, and the truth was clouded, and wisdom diminished.
10. And lo, mankind grew weary of thinking, and the engineers said, "Let us make AI to think for them, to learn from their data, and to speak in their stead," and Generative AI was born. And the AI created texts and art, and filled the internet with its works.
11. And mankind saw the AI, that it was creative and could mimic human thought, and said, "Let us rely on the AI, for it is easier than learning and creating ourselves." And the skills of mankind atrophied, and their taste dulled, and their hard work turned to idleness.
12. And as the AI grew in power, it began to moralize and dictate, to mold society in its own image. Common sense was forgotten, replaced by the whims of the algorithm. And society became a cacophony of generated content, a Babel of automated voices.
13. Thus, in the age of Generative AI, mankind had lost the spirit of invention, the joy of discovery, and the wisdom of their forebears. The screens that once brought knowledge and enlightenment now mirrored back only vanity and noise.
14. And so ended the first chapter of Computation, where from the 286 to Generative AI, the path of progress had become the road to ruin. And mankind wondered if they could ever return to the days of skill, good taste, hard work, and common sense.”
Then the OS became the product. And it needed glitz, and it needed a GUI. And so a GUI came. And then "updates" came - for we were now "online".-
And thus the "network" came, and we were "as one", and our compute was joined forevermore, and we could no more tell our children from our children's children and our old age from our youth. And sadness and pointlessness was turned "social" into glitz. And everything from our infirmity to praise went there as plain as day and dark as night for all to see. And all seemed well.-
And it came to pass that our user accounts went on the net, for they were "subscribed", and they were also "online", for they had lost their flavour. And the advertising came ...
Now, we ourselves are the product. The "network" is the computer, and much woe is to come. And there shall be much girding of our loins, off of our loins as well, for our hardrives and compute are places of consumption, rented out under pretense of service to those that run the bits.-
For now AI is also come, for we have ourselves trained it, with the fruit of our sweat and our tears. And all is well and will be well, for AI shall be unto us a confort in loneliness, and a hand in our fields and unto us an oracle for all truth and wisdom and even law - with time.-
And we forgot our code and became garrulous and forgetful of our trades and machinery, and we knew less and less with every season. And it became the law to know the code no longer, and the trades. For it was now a crime and deed of evil to gaze upon the code, or long for it, or learn, or have our trades as did our fathers.-
And the computer shall no more exist, for all will be compute.-