this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
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Fuck AI

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AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.

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This is an old opinion piece by Northrop Frye way back in 1986(!) about thought, articulation, social control, and militancy. It's an increasingly difficult article to find (for some reason/s) so I've liberated it and posted it.

And I can't help but feel that in LLMs we have reached the apotheosis of Frye's feared "verbal formulas that have no thought behind them but are put up as a pretence of thinking".

I think Frye, had he lived to see their introduction, would likely have sunk into a great depression over LLMs and what they represented.

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[–] yakko@feddit.uk 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Against the tide of doom and gloom I do hold out hope that the infamous star of LLMs will fade once private capital realises that the work of modern society cannot be foisted upon these fumbling, empty-headed verbal firehoses, and that there is ultimately no gold rush, only shovels.

They'll eventually retreat, and though many of us will have willingly relinquished our skills, our sanity, and some of us even our lives already, we will rebuild and (at least for a time) carry on with a renewed appreciation for the work of human thought, and the stories that caution us against powers we did not create, and do not fully comprehend.

[–] maegul@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I hear you. There’s a good amount of diversity in humanity, I think, and a good amount of dynamics in the ensuing interactions. My fear is that there’s a lot of “good enough is good enough” and consumerism and materialism in humanity. Maybe not everyone, but enough. And that makes for a hungry species. Add large social structures on top, and you amplify the social trends that may be governed by only a small amount of choices or people.

I hope too, but I think I’ve concluded that humanity is just a bit of a headless chicken of a species.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 1 hour ago

I think on some level there's this crack we're collectively falling into where we're smart enough to articulate the ideas that should shape how the world works - but we're foolish enough, or un-self aware enough to not actually run society correctly. It's the whole "smart but doesn't take their own advice" cliché writ large.

We are slightly a headless chicken, but we're so close to not being that. It's almost an evolutionary liminal space, a paradoxical state of foolish and wise. I have no suggestions for what's to be done if I'm right, though. Just enjoy the ride?