Note: I’ll be doing an experimental live stream today at 11am pacific, so if you somehow don’t have the Substack app get it now and don’t miss out!
I'm kind of sad that the internet is going to be crammed with AI slop from now until the end of time. We only got to have a few decades without slop.
Noah is a famous writer and commentator, “mostly about economics, but sometimes about other stuff like technology, geopolitics, and culture.” I’ve been a happy subscriber of his for years, so I was excited to talk slop.
I think we were both surprised at some of the twists and turns our conversation takes.
We get into it.
Insane Facebook AI Slop, dumbing down books, the economist’s view on the future of the internet, two futures of media, and why Noah is a slop accelerationist.
Marc Andreessen’s Why AI Will Save The World and the Baumol effect.
Noah Smith Thought, prosperity, China, patriotism, and not taking America or industrial modernity for granted.
Linda @ Substack asks whether Noah misses his first discipline, physics.
Jasmine Sun asks what Noah disagrees with Matthew Yglesias about
“The best Substack that exists": Brian Potter’s Construction Physics, and learning curves (or lack thereof) in nuclear power and construction.
Does Noah believe in God? Which religions are better than others(!)? See also: God and SuperGod, Go Ahead and Believe in God
The crazy hawks on BART and their anime avatars.
Rabbits!!!
Noahpinion posts you should read
Substacks mentioned / recommended
Thanks as always to Cara Best for the music.
Key moment
The award for best Note about this whole situation goes to Jason Chatfield
