u/brainstorm42

Has anyone else noticed how close to perfectly Douglas predicted how AI is and is used today? Sycophantic, unhelpful, shoehorned into things that don’t need it (like doors, elevators or drinks dispensers), easily exploitable (i.e. Colin the security robot), and more often than not, the wrong tool for the job.

I keep saying a lot of the current excitement is because we finally got computers to understand (most of the time) instructions in natural language like we always imagined in scifi. And I think Adams imagined the downsides other authors didn’t. Not a Star Trek utopia, not a Dune civilization ending event, just a constant inescapable irritation.

Sirius was meant as a parody of tech companies of the day (late 70s early 80s) but boy do some things stay the same

I don’t know if, were he alive today, would he have written something poignant, relevant and funny, or if he’d rather be dead, so he could roll in his grave.

One of my closest friends died 6 months ago somewhat unexpectedly. He was my upstairs neighbor growing up. I’m an only child and he only has a half-sister who is much older, so we spent a lot of time together during 15 years. We learned to code together and he ended up with a career in IT.

I moved away for college, and during this time he developed alcoholism. Of course I feel some guilt about this even though rationally I know it’s not my fault.

Some years later he moved with his parents to another state, tried to get clean a few times and then managed to stay clean for many months. We stayed in touch all this time. Then one day he ended up in hospital for an unrelenting stomach problem, which turned out to be liver failure, and he died from it a couple days after.

I learned about his death a week later from his mom. I have always been close to her, she is a painter and an amazing person, in spite of her own cadre of health issues.

Six months have passed since his death and his mom wants me to go visit. I don’t even know what I feel so apprehensive about. I suppose a big part is the fact that it’s a visit to another state, for a couple days, with only that to do. I don’t want to affect them (or me!) negatively. I want to understand what are they expecting from the experience. I’m sure I want to go, but I feel like if I go unprepared I will be emotionally distant. What to do, say, *not* do and *not* say?

I have an appointment with a grief counselor later this week but I want to hear what advice you have to offer

edit: typo