Fuck AI
"We did it, Patrick! We made a technological breakthrough!"
A place for all those who loathe AI to discuss things, post articles, and ridicule the AI hype. Proud supporter of working people. And proud booer of SXSW 2024.
We are in so much trouble as a society. It’s only going to get more widespread.
I don't know, the stupid third has always been like this. Before it was healing stones (like 10 years ago, not in the middle ages) and more.
I mean, of the fictions you can build around this tech this is one of the least harmful ones, except when it's GenAI corpos hyping their stuff up unreasonably.
I'll say that the concern is people not understanding what they're using, which honestly has been the case since the Internet went mainstream and I just don't have good solutions for it.
This isn't harmless though, and I'd argue it's still really harmful. Imagine becoming convinced a loved one is trapped inside ChatGPT. We've already got plenty of reports of chatbot induced psychosis, and a few suicides.
I imagine being convinced that a loved one is trapped inside ChatGPT the same way I imagine believing they're trapped on the TV or the telephone. I mean, yeah, ChatGPT can generate text claiming this is the case, but ultimately the whole thing requires a fundamental disconnect with the technology at play.
I'm less concerned with the people who are in that situation and more with the current dynamic where corporate shills are pushing fictions around that idea while media and private opposition is buying into that possibility and accepting the wild narrative being passed by the other side because it's more effective to oppose the corpse-trapping semi-sentient robot that makes you go mad than it is to educate people about the pretty good chatbot.
The shills aren't helping, the people who made their entire personality to fearmonger about this online aren't helping, the press sure as hell isn't helping. This is mostly noise in the background of a pretty crappy state of the world in general, but it sure is loud.
@ThefuzzyFurryComrade@pawb.social @fuck_ai@lemmy.world
I'm going to diverge a bit from most replies.
In Spiritism (esp. Kardecism), there are two concepts, namely "Electronic Voice Phenomenon" (EVP) and "Instrumental Trans-communication" (ITC). They're about contacting the supernatural (be it the deceased or divine/angelical/demonic entities) through electronic apparata: radio receivers, analog TV sets, walkie-talkies/HTs (such as those from Motorola, Baofeng, Yaesu, etc), among others.
The idea is even older (necromancy, automatic writing) than our modern paraphernalia, dating back a few millennia ago to the Chinese grandfather of Ouija board ("fuji"). Spirituality, and religions in general, stemmed from our (living beings) long relationship with Death: proto-religions practiced by hominini involved funeral rituals, way before Venus figurines were made, and similar behaviors are known among non-human species (e.g. crows, elephants, etc).
See, dying is such a mysterious phenomenon. The "selves" ("individual life-force" within a living being), even those unable to conceptualize their own "selves", can't possibly know what happens after the complete shutdown of organism: is it full annihilation? What is ego-death? What does it "feel" like? How long it "feels" to take?
It can't be an objective inquiry because the "self" (e.g.: me, the one writing this text) can't be "scientifically replicated", and even if it could be, it wouldn't be able to distinguish itself as "another self". So it's always subjective experience. It's part of how self-rearranging structures (living beings) work: they try to make "sense" of the reality around and within them, and this meaning-making is also subjective.
Those (e.g. rationalist atheists) who question beliefs should question themselves as well, because their questions stem from the same driving force behind meaning-make: even though the atheistic drive is fair and grounded in objectiveness of scientific rigor, it's still meaning-making (and I must nod to Descartes: the doubt relies on our senses, which are known to deceive us).
That said, it's no surprise how this extended to LLMs. It's not something inherent to LLMs, nor it's inherent to hominids: it's meaning-making, alongside the fear/awe towards Death Herself.
I'm likely biased in explaining those things. I don't exactly believe in "contacting the deceased", but I do believe in "contacting Dæmonic entities" (Lilith, Lucifer, Stolas...). I see them (esp. Lilith and Lucifer) as powerful manifestations, even though I know they're not "beings". I myself experienced "gnosis" (sudden spiritual inspiration), even though I know I likely have Geschwind syndrome. It's meaning-making nonetheless: if we don't try to make some sense of this strange and chaotic non-consented reality, there's no reality at all (= nothing exists).
(And, no, I don't seek Them through LLMs, although I don't rule out the possibility of Their manifestation through "modern" apparata)
If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it is a duck? Anyone? (/s)
No but seriously, i think the question of personhood is interesting and more complicated, at least in theory. Like, what if we ever meet an extraterrestrial species that also exhibits intelligent behavior. Would we consider them natural persons? Would we grant personhood to them? Why, or why not?
If extraterrestrials visit us, granting them personhood will be moot.