4 ms·

Wrong. My college chemistry textbook had a small aside about an important organic chemist in the 1920s who was responsible for many foundational organic chemist

by 0F5 4y ago

Wrong. My college chemistry textbook had a small aside about an important organic chemist in the 1920s who was responsible for many foundational organic chemistry techniques and theories. I forget his name. The blurb ended with his death — he committed suicide after lamenting that his friends always had female partners on the weekends while he, on the other hand, was always alone. The man died of loneliness in the 1920s. Later editions of the textbook removed the blurb entirely… how stupid and foolish. If you have an amazing personality then you will want to hang out all the time and have lots of sex and everyone will oblige you because you’re fun to be around. It doesn’t matter what the context is. Yeah, if you’re one member of a 25 person Inuit tribe, you won’t be lonely ever. But just because a bunch of people in the USA are narcissistic idiots who are intolerable to be around doesn’t mean anything about the way the world is going.

Gustomaximus 4y ago
Seems to me he was not alone, as he had friends and spent time with them. Is this example conflating 'alone' to the seperate issue of him being unable to find a sexual partner? Also generally I'm sure there will be outlier examples of 'see he was alone in the past' but I feel we have to approach these from a 'generally' view to understand the bigger picture as examples of one may be good for context, but can tend to be used as a confirmation bias of sorts against a bigger picture.
- 0F5 4y ago
  I think technology is fundamentally opposed to the human experience. What will happen when AGI agents are more empathetic, caring, attentive, funny, supportive, soul-nourishing than any human could ever be? On every level that a human can enjoy and appreciate the company of another human, computers will do it better. It’s like the concept of infinity… you are forced to accept all these strange outcomes that are logically sound but make no sense. That is what AGI will be and AGI is the logical end of technology. There is no humanity at end of that road. And the outcome is very bad overall. But that doesn’t change the fact that people have been lonely a long time and there are more reasons for loneliness than technology. Better to see clearly regardless of the context. Stop intelligent machines!
  - throway98752343 4y ago
    That is the future for AGI under capitalism. (See "Her" 2013 movie.) A different path is for sufficiently advanced technology to help humans connect with each other and strengthen those connections, like organizing playdates for children (of course subtly enough that it doesn't come off as infantilizing). I don't think that can coexist with the attention economy though.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    date someone who doesn't speak your language. Then, you're forced to use an AGI translator app to talk to one another. Thankfully, the app also adjusts the tone of what you're saying to come off empathetic and caring whilst translating
taeric 4y ago
Honestly? That "blurb" sounds more like bullying than it does an actual commentary on what likely was the truth.
stuxnet79 4y ago
For those curious who this is, it's Wallace Carothers, the inventor of Nylon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Carothers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Carothers
kuramitropolis 4y ago
>narcissistic idiots who are intolerable to be around >want to hang out all the time and have lots of sex and everyone will oblige you Same people.

by 0F5 4y ago

Gustomaximus 4y ago

Seems to me he was not alone, as he had friends and spent time with them. Is this example conflating 'alone' to the seperate issue of him being unable to find a sexual partner? Also generally I'm sure there will be outlier examples of 'see he was alone in the past' but I feel we have to approach these from a 'generally' view to understand the bigger picture as examples of one may be good for context, but can tend to be used as a confirmation bias of sorts against a bigger picture.

0F5 4y ago
I think technology is fundamentally opposed to the human experience. What will happen when AGI agents are more empathetic, caring, attentive, funny, supportive, soul-nourishing than any human could ever be? On every level that a human can enjoy and appreciate the company of another human, computers will do it better. It’s like the concept of infinity… you are forced to accept all these strange outcomes that are logically sound but make no sense. That is what AGI will be and AGI is the logical end of technology. There is no humanity at end of that road. And the outcome is very bad overall. But that doesn’t change the fact that people have been lonely a long time and there are more reasons for loneliness than technology. Better to see clearly regardless of the context. Stop intelligent machines!
- throway98752343 4y ago
  That is the future for AGI under capitalism. (See "Her" 2013 movie.) A different path is for sufficiently advanced technology to help humans connect with each other and strengthen those connections, like organizing playdates for children (of course subtly enough that it doesn't come off as infantilizing). I don't think that can coexist with the attention economy though.
- fragmede 4y ago
  date someone who doesn't speak your language. Then, you're forced to use an AGI translator app to talk to one another. Thankfully, the app also adjusts the tone of what you're saying to come off empathetic and caring whilst translating

taeric 4y ago

Honestly? That "blurb" sounds more like bullying than it does an actual commentary on what likely was the truth.

stuxnet79 4y ago

For those curious who this is, it's Wallace Carothers, the inventor of Nylon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Carothers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Carothers

kuramitropolis 4y ago

>narcissistic idiots who are intolerable to be around >want to hang out all the time and have lots of sex and everyone will oblige you Same people.