[Philip-J-Fry]

I think it's more like telling a DJ in the 80s, "Don't worry that mixing vinyls won't be a thing forever. It's not about the tools but about the product, as a DJ your job is to mix good music and you can do that with vinyls, cassettes or with MP3s."

[joenot443]

This is a pretty funny example because if you follow the DJ scene much, you know the barrier for entry is literally on the floor now. A 10 year old with an iPad app can beat-match and “DJ” a 2h mix together in a way that 20 years ago required thousands of dollars of gear. The tragic part is that unless someone’s got some familiarity with what “good” mixing sounds like, they wouldn’t be able to tell they’re listening to an amateur. Is this better? I donno. I play saxophone. But if there was an digital sax that let children sound as good as I can with no training, I’d definitely be feeling like some of the time I used learning good embouchure and breath control could have been better spent.

[jfvinueza]

The "technical" aspect of djing will never be as important as the sense of what song should go next, and there's no shortcut for that.

[krsna]

Truthfully, picking what song goes next feels like a job well suited for an AI, or even just a basic recommendation system based on up and down votes.

Of course there's a real time component to DJing as well. Paying attention to the crowd and how they're reacting to your mix. That's the magic that's harder to automate.

[hungryforcodes]

I'd like to see it. As someone who's DJ'd a fair amount for large crowds (1000+) my value always seemed to be in choosing tracks that lit up the audience and made the set progress to a satisfying peak.

The technical aspects were always not that important.

[mnsc]

To me, this is what Carmack is talking about.

[ReptileMan]

We found shortcuts to writing poems in Shakespearian style ...

[incongruity]

I’m in my 40s - one of my high school jobs was working at a photo lab and studio - I even became a photographer there, taking kids photos and whatnot. It was fun - I almost considered a career in photography.

The truth is, had I done so, I’d feel a lot like you described.

As things get easier, true craft and skill are less appreciated and lost as the application becomes more democratized. From the perspective of the expert/skilled individual, this is terrible. On the other hand, it’s amazing what happens when everyone has a mindblowingly good camera on them almost always. In the end, we are collectively better for it, but individuals absolutely do see their value diminished.

[joenot443]

Photography's a great example. Experts like you could make the difference matter I'm sure, but these days I feel like the shots I get on my 14 Pro are close to the quality I'd get from a DSLR. Like with so many other hobbies, it seems like the barrier for entry to produce something "good enough" has quickly become almost non-existent.

> In the end, we are collectively better for it, but individuals absolutely do see their value diminished.

You've summed it up well.

[djmips]

Aren't producers already using digital sax for years now? The saxophone market for session players has probably already been decimated.

[anthomtb]

Is anyone willing to hire a 10 year old with an iPad to DJ at their wedding?

[mikewarot]

Is there a 10 year old that can MC the groom going for the garter, or the first dance? Doubtful.

[finikytou]

except that many DJ now are physically attractive people (mostly women) that don't have to know anything anymore as technology evolved to the point that all the hard stuff to learn on mixing with vinyls disapeared. I could be a DJ tomorrow with a 1hour tutorial on youtube. a few decades ago it required hard training for years and musicality.