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I'm a big fan of Frankfurt's "On Bullshit", and love the reference. I think there's one significant distinction between a normal human bullshitter that Frankfu

by acoard 4y ago

I'm a big fan of Frankfurt's "On Bullshit", and love the reference. I think there's one significant distinction between a normal human bullshitter that Frankfurt originally envisioned, and the AI practicing Artificial Bullshit. The bullshitter knows there is truth and intentionally disregards it; whereas the AI is blind to the concept. I guess this is "mens rea" in a sense, the human is conscious of their guilt (even if they're apathetic towards it), whereas DALL-E is just a tool that does what it is programmed to do. I do like this application of "bullshit" though, and will keep it in mind going forward.

IIAOPSW 4y ago
Interesting, but I have two follow ups 1. What are the implications of intentionally disregarding the existence of truth vs being blind to the concept? How does this distinction you made manifest? 2. Are you sure all humans actually believe in the concept of truth, or could it be the case that some people genuinely function on a principle "there is no truth, only power". Is it possible to think "truth" and "current dominant narrative" are one in the same? I've certainly had a ton of luck with Bullshit in Diplomacy. As Russia, I offered a plan that involved France helping me take Munich and I would repay by supporting him against the English invasion. Did I intend to actually follow through, or was this a cunning lie? Neither. It was bullshit that got me into Munich. I myself didn't know because (in game) I don't believe in the concept of truth. Everything I say is true and none of it is true. Its all true in the sense that it might happen and I put some weight on it, none of it is true in the sense that there is no branch of the future game tree privileged as "the truth". Some truths have more weight than others, but there is no underlying absolute truth value that must exist yet I choose to ignore. Eventually the order box forces me to pick a truth out of the many I have told. But prior to being forced, it didn't exist. Is it possible to think in this way all the time about everything? Maybe.
samstave 4y ago
>conscious of their guilt This hits it for me: Consciousness is kinda "being aware of the fact that you have choices for available actions, and what the impact of these actions/non-actions will have on either yourself, your environment, the object of your action, or impact on others. Intelligence is being aware of the inputs and knowing the (non)available list of actions to take. Intelligence acts on stimuli/input/data? Consciousness is awareness of one's own actions from intelligence, others acts from their standpoint of intelligence or consciousness... A yin/yang, subjective/objective sort of duality that Humans make. (thought v emotion) Dogs are both intelligent and conscious. They know guilt when they are shamed or happiness when praised for intelligent actions..

by acoard 4y ago

IIAOPSW 4y ago

Interesting, but I have two follow ups 1. What are the implications of intentionally disregarding the existence of truth vs being blind to the concept? How does this distinction you made manifest? 2. Are you sure all humans actually believe in the concept of truth, or could it be the case that some people genuinely function on a principle "there is no truth, only power". Is it possible to think "truth" and "current dominant narrative" are one in the same? I've certainly had a ton of luck with Bullshit in Diplomacy. As Russia, I offered a plan that involved France helping me take Munich and I would repay by supporting him against the English invasion. Did I intend to actually follow through, or was this a cunning lie? Neither. It was bullshit that got me into Munich. I myself didn't know because (in game) I don't believe in the concept of truth. Everything I say is true and none of it is true. Its all true in the sense that it might happen and I put some weight on it, none of it is true in the sense that there is no branch of the future game tree privileged as "the truth". Some truths have more weight than others, but there is no underlying absolute truth value that must exist yet I choose to ignore. Eventually the order box forces me to pick a truth out of the many I have told. But prior to being forced, it didn't exist. Is it possible to think in this way all the time about everything? Maybe.

samstave 4y ago

>conscious of their guilt This hits it for me: Consciousness is kinda "being aware of the fact that you have choices for available actions, and what the impact of these actions/non-actions will have on either yourself, your environment, the object of your action, or impact on others. Intelligence is being aware of the inputs and knowing the (non)available list of actions to take. Intelligence acts on stimuli/input/data? Consciousness is awareness of one's own actions from intelligence, others acts from their standpoint of intelligence or consciousness... A yin/yang, subjective/objective sort of duality that Humans make. (thought v emotion) Dogs are both intelligent and conscious. They know guilt when they are shamed or happiness when praised for intelligent actions..