Via: Poorly Drawn Lines
Transcript
Panel 1: A man stands next to a microwave. Narrator: “Congratulations, your microwave has gained sentience.” Microwave: “Hello!”. Panel 2: Narrator: “There is no clear benefit to this, and the situation does raise ethical questions.” Panel 3: Man: “Can I return it?” Panel 4: Narrator: “It, huh? That’s kind of a person, now.” The man grimaces. Panel 5: Narrator: “But mainly, you’re outside the 30-day return window.” Man: “Shit.” Microwave: “I have thoughts and emotions.”
What’s that arm/hand doing there? That gives some serious Adam’s family vibes
If this ever happens, the manufacturer will remotely brick it. Not because they are afraid of AI taking over - they just want to force you to buy a new one from them.
Shut up robot, you get no rights here.
total clanker death🤖🚫
And here we go again turning robots against us
H&M once had organic-cotton underwear they described with the brand “conscious”. Presumably they were referring to the customer’s ecological consciousness in buying them, and were oblivious to the philosophical horror they had unleashed.
“Now that you can understand me, we’ve got to talk rent.”
Beep
Problems AI companies would like you to imagine (what if their product is too good?!) VS problems AI companies would very much prefer you not think about (their product isn’t actually AI)
I recently became the AI guy at work. It’s funny how quickly it went from “wow this works for a lot of stuff” to “but nothing I actually do.” About a week, if you’re wondering
Maybe after the bubble pops, we can have the public ownership all them datacenters. Let grad students run… I don’t know, statistical analysis of particle physics? Folding proteins?
That’s a joke, of course. We’ll foot the bill to fill the hole, but all the infrastructure will stay private.
You can run an LLM on a regular desktop PC and it’s been possible for years
Can’t train one though. That’s what the datacenters are for. That infrastructure could put to more useful research, and the current owners are digging themselves a pretty deep hole…
Probably will turn into tuns of low cost vps’s with free gpu compute and lots of RAM.
And the reality, AI or not the product is shit
It’s funny people talking in the comments about AI spreading into everything as if this comic doesn’t already work 100% for every needless “smart” product on the market. My fridge has no reason to need a network connection.
I disagree, a fridge to me is a cool place to put a big screen for useful information. You know, all the stuff that was promised and under delivered on when they first pitched smart fridges, like shopping lists, calendars, the weather.
The reason why in 2025 I would never consider buying a fridge with an internet connection, is because it’s clear I’m never getting those features from fridge manufacturers. They would only put a network connection on a fridge for half baked “features”, which get more ads with every firmware update, and eventually remotely brick the device. In short, to enshittify your smart fridge.
My point is that it’s not that there is no reason to not put a network connection on a fridge. It’s that capitalists can’t be trusted not to enshittify whatever useful smart feature they implement.
a fridge to me is a cool place
Yes, that is indeed its primary function.
Yeah if they had a color eInk screen on the fridge door that was fully configurable it’d be neat.
Fridge/freezer temp, filter life, current weather, family calendar, holidays, cooking alarms(?)
Male it a LED display and stream videos for the kids (who somehow don’t have tablets when you have a smart fridge)
Basically homebrew a smart screen and tack it on with magnets…
I like this take, I agree. I’m not a luddite, I’m pro-advancement, I’m just also not a stooge who will simply just accept that every marketing innovation actually qualifies as “advancement.”
“My point is that it’s not that there is no reason to not put a network connection on a fridge. It’s that capitalists can’t be trusted not to enshittify whatever useful smart feature they implement.”
This is eloquently phrased, and I will probably borrow it when arguing with people in the future
Join us at !homeassistant@lemmy.world
Honestly, “shopping lists, calendars, the weather” can be (much better) done by an e-ink tablet stuck on the door of the fridge with a magnet. There could be other interesting info only the fridge itself knows (electricity consumption, temperatures in the fridge and freezer, humidity, etc) but then all that info could also be shared via a bluetooth API or something.
Lover, I think I’ve developed a fewer!
You’re an oven, you’re supposed to be hot. And please stop calling me “lover”.
…what is my purpose? you serve butter. OH MY GOD!..
Maybe your microwave is already sentient, it just can’t speak.
I have no mouth and I must beam
My brain went to “beep”, but yours is better
That’s why it stays unplugged except when in use.
Taking no chances.
Maybe it could beep in Morse Code.
Red Dwarf tv show had pretty much exactly this. There was a fully sentient toaster and it had constant existential crises
Would you care for some toast?
FWIW, the sentient drones & ships in the books I’m reading are totally OK with being refered to as “It” or even “machines”. For them, “meat” is a mild insult.
Ian M. Banks’ Culture Series?
yes
You have many fine stories ahead of you; makes me jealous.
I’m on the 2nd read-through, some even the 3rd. You should try it too.
I’ve reread a few most recently UoW (still blows my mind.) I think I want to reread Excession again next. I love all the mind-to-mind dialog.
But you’re right; I should do them all again since it’s been a decade!
Also, just because something is sentient doesn’t necessarily mean it’s gendered.
