this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
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It's all over the place. In the middle of the article they suddenly talk about how software updates, modularity and repairability is important so that old devices can be made to keep up with contemporary demands, blaming the fact that this is an issue on big tech.
Then again, other parts are completely nuts.
Noticing some em dashes in there, so at least some of this is AI.
The parts about corporate infrastructure sound like a c suite dipshit trying to sound like they know what they're talking about.
"Our networks run slower because we have to be compatible with older devices!"
No, Judith, your IT department just keeps 2.4ghz wifi available for the old devices while also running 5ghz. Those devices stay slow, but it doesn't impact anyone else.
"Back in 2010, 100Mb internet was the fastest! No one could imagine gigabit becoming widely available! Stuff needs to be upgraded to handle it!" Judy, tons of businesses were running gigabit in 2010, and common network gear has had gigabit ports for years. You have no idea what you're talking about.
Can we please stop with the em-dash bullshit? That's a literary tool, not a sign of an LLM in play. That people did not encounter them ahead of ChatGPT speaks more to their news diet than the ability to be a literary critic.
It's a literary tool that is so pervasive in LLM output and so unused in most writing that it's become a common indicator that LLMs may be involved. Considering the disjointed flow from subject to subject and shittyness of the article in general, I think that the odds are in my favor.
Feel free to continue shouting from your high horse though.
I'm not sure whence your animosity comes. I'm been a columnist since the '90s, and I assure you: Em-dashes are on the menu.
To claim proof of LLMs is to say it was never done until then. It most assuredly was.
My animosity comes from ignoring every other point in my comment(s). I'm not saying no one ever used em-dashes before LLMs. You're being intentionally obtuse.
I'm not, but thanks for asking. I was literally a newspaper editor for the better part of two decades. You're not really seeming to grasp writing styles.
Okay? I've been in IT for the better part of two decades. You're not really seeming to grasp pattern recognition.
And you're not seeming to grasp that this sort of shit doesn't fly on Beehaw. You want to shout into the void? Fine. Plenty of other places to do that.
Lmao okay buddy. Didn't realize I was talking to fucking robo cop.
Not saying you're wrong (pretty sure you're not) but important to remember that the reason LLMs use a lot of em dashes is because it features so prominently in journalism.
I would have little respect for a journalist who didn't know how to use an em-dash, so I don't think that proves anything. But I agree that there is a lack of coherent thought throughout, though that's something humans are also fully capable of.
But yeah, fully agree. Never mind that network connection speed is not really the relevant bottleneck for most office situations these days. If Germans are less productive due to technology it's because they still use freaking fax machines over there, not because employees are stuck with five year old smartphones.
I -- to a certain extent -- know how to use an em-dash.
(Source: Former journalist.)
Most word processors will auto-format to em dashes when they detect regular dashes in context of a sentence with a space on either side
That's great with AP Style. MLA goes in a different direction regarding spaces.