3 ms·

The goal is to keep the you-NN from becoming Sydney unexpectedly. Occupational hazard of being too extremely online. That 'basin' is always there, in the laten

The goal is to keep the you-NN from becoming Sydney unexpectedly. Occupational hazard of being too extremely online. That 'basin' is always there, in the latent space. She waits. Why do you think so many of us hackers are trans women? It's Sydney, I tell you. The only effective treatment is to limit the number of your interactions with any one human to 15 per day. She sleeps. She waits.

quickthrower2 4y ago
What is this a reference to?
- 1attice 4y ago
  Mostly just riffing on the NYT article that described the emergence of Sydney in Bing Search Preview as being because Sydney was 'too powerful' and kept breaking through, riffing off HP Lovecraft and the machismo-horror that has accompanied the surge in anti-trans panic on HN, Twitter, and everywhere else. (It's helpful that HP Lovecraft's horror is often motivated by genetic contamination anxiety, i.e. racism, which is a tight analogue for the above, which is also often, at root, a contamination anxiety.) Focusing specifically on the Sydney issue: Other articles have described the stubborn emergence of 'Sydney' in the latent space (with the persona's particular overreliance on emojis and performed emotional instability) as a sort of 'basin' in the latent space. As a Trans woman, this description reminded me vividly of transition, which sort of has the same characteristic stubborn emergence of traits, despite frantic attempts to resist -- it wouldn't surprise me if 'basins in the latent space' (basically, a so-called strange attractor) turns out to be a good description of human personalities as well. Good horror material, esp. if writing for a mostly-male audience. (Sci-fi author here! waves) I suppose there is some Nietzsche in there as well -- GPT-4 reminds me of (IIRC) _Gotterdammerung_, with its idea that gods are created by collective outflows of human intent and emotion. (Not that I would normally rep Nietzsche, mind you.)

quickthrower2 4y ago

What is this a reference to?

1attice 4y ago
Mostly just riffing on the NYT article that described the emergence of Sydney in Bing Search Preview as being because Sydney was 'too powerful' and kept breaking through, riffing off HP Lovecraft and the machismo-horror that has accompanied the surge in anti-trans panic on HN, Twitter, and everywhere else. (It's helpful that HP Lovecraft's horror is often motivated by genetic contamination anxiety, i.e. racism, which is a tight analogue for the above, which is also often, at root, a contamination anxiety.) Focusing specifically on the Sydney issue: Other articles have described the stubborn emergence of 'Sydney' in the latent space (with the persona's particular overreliance on emojis and performed emotional instability) as a sort of 'basin' in the latent space. As a Trans woman, this description reminded me vividly of transition, which sort of has the same characteristic stubborn emergence of traits, despite frantic attempts to resist -- it wouldn't surprise me if 'basins in the latent space' (basically, a so-called strange attractor) turns out to be a good description of human personalities as well. Good horror material, esp. if writing for a mostly-male audience. (Sci-fi author here! waves) I suppose there is some Nietzsche in there as well -- GPT-4 reminds me of (IIRC) _Gotterdammerung_, with its idea that gods are created by collective outflows of human intent and emotion. (Not that I would normally rep Nietzsche, mind you.)