YouTube, Free education, and worth every penny.

[Cameron Wood]

I watched an episode- I thought it was charming, well produced, and also nostalgic, using techniques and equipment that I also used back then.

[Edward Weber]

I watched an episode- I thought it was charming, well produced, and also nostalgic, using techniques and equipment that I also used back then.

Did something strike you as being "dated" as far as tools?

[Pat Germain]

I looked one up, but only lasted about 20 seconds into it. Just not for me to spend time on.

If you don't like Woodworks, I expect you wouldn't like any wordworking show of any kind.

[Cameron Wood]

Did something strike you as being "dated" as far as tools?

The 10" chopsaw, Dewalt biscuit joiner, Wetzler clamps (all of which I still have), & mortising with a straight flute router bit stood out.

He actually lives just up the road in the next county.

[Steve Demuth]

Don't be fooled by the hype. AI is mostly just another big, overblown nothing burger.

If by AI you mean general purpose chat or visualization tools like ChatGPT or Stable Diffusion or the like, then I think they are still in the party trick looking for a purpose stage. But the underlying language models are incredible powerful tools - automated fluency in human and many other languages - and they'll find plenty of uses that make sense. And AI generally is much, much more then just those language models. The same techniques that can train a computer model to recognize photos of kittens can train a model to read and interpret ECGs, e.g., better than most human doctors can (and by better, I mean with fewer errors and oversights, and to "see" diagnostic information in the ECG that not even the best human electrophysiologist can see). That's just a single example - I could list dozens in a single branch of medicine, and then move on to other science and engineering fields.

Even the language models do useful work already - we use a Microsoft product to transcribe and summarize meetings. It's way better than human "recorders." It makes mistakes, to be sure, but fewer than the people it's transcribing.

And as Mike Stenson has observed, LLMs write computer code in development shops all over the world on a daily basis. Probably not yet transformative in impact, but not a nothing-burger either.

[Pat Germain]

If by AI you mean general purpose chat or visualization tools like ChatGPT or Stable Diffusion or the like, then I think they are still in the party trick looking for a purpose stage. But the underlying language models are incredible powerful tools - automated fluency in human and many other languages - and they'll find plenty of uses that make sense. And AI generally is much, much more then just those language models. The same techniques that can train a computer model to recognize photos of kittens can train a model to read and interpret ECGs, e.g., better than most human doctors can (and by better, I mean with fewer errors and oversights, and to "see" diagnostic information in the ECG that not even the best human electrophysiologist can see). That's just a single example - I could list dozens in a single branch of medicine, and then move on to other science and engineering fields.

Even the language models do useful work already - we use a Microsoft product to transcribe and summarize meetings. It's way better than human "recorders." It makes mistakes, to be sure, but fewer than the people it's transcribing.

And as Mike Stenson has observed, LLMs write computer code in development shops all over the world on a daily basis. Probably not yet transformative in impact, but not a nothing-burger either.

I'm an IT Professional. I don't work with AI specificially, but I am aware of its potential for the things you listed above. What I think is overblown are the predictions that AI is going to write novels and movie scripts. It can mash something together which is currently meaningless and nonsensical. Sure, these capabilities will get better, but there's just no way AI is going to create imaginative worlds and novel ideas. And I don't see it revolutionizing the world as we know it.

[Edward Weber]

The 10" chopsaw, Dewalt biscuit joiner, Wetzler clamps (all of which I still have), & mortising with a straight flute router bit stood out.

He actually lives just up the road in the next county.

I suppose I don't understand your original comment then.
The tools you list, in the correct hands, are still capable of producing fine work today. I still use them without issue. I wouldn't call any of then "nostalgic" I didn't realize that 10" chop saws and biscuit joiners were from the days of old.

Question;
If you replaced all of them with whatever you think is equivalent today, would you work go faster, easier, be safer, produce a better final product? how would you benefit?

I'm all for progress but there needs to be some type of benefit before abandoning the "nostalgic" tools I'm apparently using.

[Cameron Wood]

I suppose I don't understand your original comment then.
The tools you list, in the correct hands, are still capable of producing fine work today. I still use them without issue. I wouldn't call any of then "nostalgic" I didn't realize that 10" chop saws and biscuit joiners were from the days of old.

Question;
If you replaced all of them with whatever you think is equivalent today, would you work go faster, easier, be safer, produce a better final product? how would you benefit?

I'm all for progress but there needs to be some type of benefit before abandoning the "nostalgic" tools I'm apparently using.

It wasn't a criticism, but I would guess that sales of 10" chopsaws and biscuit joiners are down in favor of 12" sliders and Dominos.

My Makita cast iron saw lives on in spite of the period of time when it would only start if I reached around and hit it with a 2X4 like a stubborn mule, but I do like the cutting capacity of the 12" DeWalt.

[mike stenson]

I'm an IT Professional. I don't work with AI specificially, but I am aware of its potential for the things you listed above. What I think is overblown are the predictions that AI is going to write novels and movie scripts. It can mash something together which is currently meaningless and nonsensical. Sure, these capabilities will get better, but there's just no way AI is going to create imaginative worlds and novel ideas. And I don't see it revolutionizing the world as we know it.

That's exactly why the content it creates is as bad as it is. I really do not look forward to having to participate, as a developer, to this mess. Yet, here we are.. it's THE focus area for my company, so I either do.. or make myself obsolete.

[Edward Weber]

It wasn't a criticism, but I would guess that sales of 10" chopsaws and biscuit joiners are down in favor of 12" sliders and Dominos.

My Makita cast iron saw lives on in spite of the period of time when it would only start if I reached around and hit it with a 2X4 like a stubborn mule, but I do like the cutting capacity of the 12" DeWalt.

You're not wrong, but for some of us who don't jump on the bandwagon
12" slider is not necessary to me at this time.
Domino and biscuits are two different animals in my book.
I guess we just look at things differently.

[Mark Hennebury]

Ai, taking control of everything. past, present and future.

Screenshot 2024-03-14 142610.jpg Screenshot 2024-01-17 142957.jpg Screenshot 2024-01-17 144518.jpg Screenshot 2024-01-06 181316.jpg

[Cameron Wood]

You're not wrong, but for some of us who don't jump on the bandwagon
12" slider is not necessary to me at this time.
Domino and biscuits are two different animals in my book.
I guess we just look at things differently.

Not that differently. I have a 12" slider but only use it on jobsites. I wasn't looking for one but it was pressed on me by a guy retiring for health reasons.

It's good for cutting wide fascia but would take up too much room in the shop.

I do have a 12" Dewalt single bevel chopsaw that is used both in the shop and out of it. Best combination of cutting capacity, portability, and overall utility IME but I also still use the Makita, bought 1980 or before.

[John C Cox]

I'm on a Tolkien Forum ... discussions range all over the world of Tolkien, including the various dramatizations done over the last 70 years , both TV and the earlier radio presentations.
Those dramatizations can be very polarizing.

So a new member chimes in about the Amazon Rings of Power series (RoP)...(And RoP is incredibly polarizing... most people either love it or hate ... I'm in the "hate it" camp FWIW)
And he has a fairly long post about the pros and cons of RoP.
I read it and re-read it, and finally decide: He's not really saying anything, he's just sitting on the fence.
And more than that the whole thing sounded artificial.

So I PM a mod and ask him if they've vetted the new member because he sounds like AI.
Turns out the person is real (flesh and blood) but he admitted (only when asked point blank) that his contribution to the discussion was AI generated.
He gave the AI the parameters of the discussion and after getting an answer, re-arranged some words or sentences, then posted it. He said he thought it was OK to do that.
The mods informed him that he needs to note at the outset of a post if it is AI generated, but then gently suggested to him that it would be much better to post something entirely of his own thinking.

My own experience (and this was just another instance of it) is that an AI "composition" is still pretty easy to spot.
I wonder how long before it gets better at "creative writing"...

Ironically, a lot of the stuff coming out of people's brains is a LOT worse than what AI's generate, if for no other reason than AI's are generally trained to write complete sentences and to use correct grammar/punctuation. You just would not believe the sort of indecipherable trash that people will post on free websites in the name of writing fiction/poetry.

The thing is... We need to differentiate between where AI's are profitable and where they're an endless money pit. We've done a good job of that in industrial automation. People will go brain dead manually counting out 50 envelope stacks and stuffing them into boxes where machines happily crank stacks out by the billions. People are way better when you need dexterity, judgement, or a lot of variety....

I sort of doubt there will be any money in using AI to do things people like to do. The money will be in the grind, doing things that it's hard to keep people interested in. For example, AI will probably prove profitable doing things like copy editing and grammar/punctuation checking, because that's just grind.

[Edward Weber]

Not that differently. I have a 12" slider but only use it on jobsites. I wasn't looking for one but it was pressed on me by a guy retiring for health reasons.

It's good for cutting wide fascia but would take up too much room in the shop.

I do have a 12" Dewalt single bevel chopsaw that is used both in the shop and out of it. Best combination of cutting capacity, portability, and overall utility IME but I also still use the Makita, bought 1980 or before.

My main miter saw is a Bosch 10" SCMS that takes up about a 1/4 acre of room, great saw, never had a bit of issue but I wish it had a smaller footprint.

[Patty Hann]

Ironically, a lot of the stuff coming out of people's brains is a LOT worse than what AI's generate, if for no other reason than AI's are generally trained to write complete sentences and to use correct grammar/punctuation. You just would not believe the sort of indecipherable trash that people will post on free websites in the name of writing fiction/poetry.

The thing is... We need to differentiate between where AI's are profitable and where they're an endless money pit. We've done a good job of that in industrial automation. People will go brain dead manually counting out 50 envelope stacks and stuffing them into boxes where machines happily crank stacks out by the billions. People are way better when you need dexterity, judgement, or a lot of variety....

I sort of doubt there will be any money in using AI to do things people like to do. The money will be in the grind, doing things that it's hard to keep people interested in. For example, AI will probably prove profitable doing things like copy editing and grammar/punctuation checking, because that's just grind.

I guess Grammarly uses AI now.
No way do I want AI checking my writing for grammar, spelling and syntax "mistakes" .
It has to compare my choice of words etc against some kind of standard, and I'm certain that standard is going to reflect the prevailing ideological norms, whatever they are.
When I want my writing critiqued for grammar , spelling, syntax etc I'll rely on other sources I can trust.
I disabled all the auto correct functions at the outset on MS Word etc when I first began using it decades ago.

Companies, business etc can do what they want or need to do... but I'll not be using it.