Jemima is the rare breed of tradfi journo who, even when she's writing stupid shit about bitcoin ("crypto"?!), she's worth reading.

Today she's out writing about AI and productivity, and it's doubly worth itToday she's out writing about AI and productivity, and it's doubly worth it

Oh lord, this one is edgy. The productivity bruhs can sod off. Esp now that the infl00enz00rz are discovering that alcohol has a ton of negative effects on your body.

"Optimisation is killing the fun," said some dude to BBC, who's out with a new book critiquing Barlett. I understand nothing. (The navel-gazing reminds me of Bitcoinland.)

Back to Jemima making good sense:

I can’t open X without being confronted by a 20-post thread about what CEOs do between 4am and 7am (it’s not sleep, alas) or how to use AI to make my life more streamlined and productive. I can’t open Instagram without being offered ideas for how to eat my body weight’s worth of protein for breakfast.

couldn't agree more. Social media, as Scott Dedels so eloquently put it in his new The Age of Time, went from a neat digital scrapbook or connecting with friends, to an exaggerated avalanche of dopamine-addicted doomscrooling, attention-shorting and altogether stupifying:

and yet, the "progress" bros (#1476033, #1476043) keep yelling that things are getting better. AI and digital is amazing, etc. It's all so tiresome, and Jemima gets this too:

"It is all rather joyless, self-serving and lonely""It is all rather joyless, self-serving and lonely"

...thought I'm not convinced this anecdote gets her points with the plebs and the hoi-polloi

my experience is often the opposite to Bartlett’s: had several martinis, got drunk, and it made my month because of the domino effect that it caused. I’m not the only one. A close friend is about to have a baby with a man she met at a party I hosted in 2023 during which I plied her — and everyone — with white negronis. Would she have had the audacity to ditch the date she had turned up with for the man who would become her partner had she not been absolutely sozzled? She says no: that would have been uncivilised.
Plenty of friends and family members are living better, healthier, more fulfilling lives having given up drinking. As I write, I am struggling with a hangover brought about by a long liquid lunch promptly followed by a liquid supper, which I slightly regret.

"the fact is that we are over-optimising, over-streamlining and forgetting about the things that matter the most. [...] no night out with friends is worth giving up for a couple of extra points on your daily readiness score.""the fact is that we are over-optimising, over-streamlining and forgetting about the things that matter the most. [...] no night out with friends is worth giving up for a couple of extra points on your daily readiness score."

Have a drink, go to bed too late, fuck the influenz00rs (...and the Boomers, always!)

archive: https://archive.md/LF3WM