The Education of a Doomer: a developer explains why he turned AI doomer
zetalyrae · x · 2026-09-09
Developer Fernando Borretti published a long essay, The Education of a Doomer, explaining his shift from AI optimism to deep concern. Each section covers one belief he changed:
- Economics: he once trusted automation to create new jobs, but a truly general AI that is vastly faster and cheaper may leave humans nothing to do beyond UBI;
- Alignment and control: falling confidence in model controllability;
- Writing and software engineering: AI output quality and dependence risks;
- Deferring to AI: people treating flawed AI as an oracle will get worse by 2030–2040;
- Stagnation: worry that AI erodes skills and thought.
Related event: Engineer's Essay 'The Education of a Doomer' Explains AI Pessimism Shift(4 posts)→
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