3 ms·

Quite an astonishing amount of quotes -- I counted Heidegger, Nietzsche, Murdoch, the Bible, and Plato as key players -- to contribute very little of substance.

by wzdd 1y ago

Quite an astonishing amount of quotes -- I counted Heidegger, Nietzsche, Murdoch, the Bible, and Plato as key players -- to contribute very little of substance. It feels like the same kind of hand-wringing that you might have read about the invention of the typewriter, the telegraph, or recorded music. Humans are complex creatures! We can be "in the process of becoming" about a great many things along a great many axes. Using ChatGPT to draft a letter of complaint to your local government isn't going to change that.

add-sub-mul-div 1y ago
Invoking the cliched comparison of AI to past inventions in a discussion about parroting is brilliant satire.
- cgio 1y ago
  While I agree, making the assumption that our GP was not indeed using an LLM, that has a lot to say about the essence of the article’s argument. We were maybe already stochastic parrots and are just building tools to be more efficient at it.
  - bluefirebrand 1y ago
    > We were maybe already stochastic parrots and are just building tools to be more efficient at it. I think we can and should firmly reject this notion If humans were mere stochastic parrots we would not have the ability to build the Internet we're talking on right now
    - cgio 1y ago
      Not sure about that, we are happy to assume that a stochastic process such as evolution culminated in advanced life forms but reluctant to admit that our own creations could be the outcome of a stochastic process on communication patterns.
- logicprog 1y ago
  So is writing an ultimately empty essay mostly composed of other people's quotes, thoughts, and concerns
conartist6 1y ago
The basilisk consumes the minds of those who worship it. It's mostly in the tech industry though that you find people who have such a tenuous grasp on the natural order that they honestly believe serving the basilisk is what's best
metalman 1y ago
other comments mention things like the "geat filter" and how (further) abandonment of the written word could become a class definition, these are not trivial speculations......many of us here will have experienced predjudice and bullying for bieng "overly" literate in school so the notion of literacy becoming a liability is reasonable, especialyconsidering that the president just finnished his first book, and it didn't go so well, so he might just save everyone from having to suffer as he has, and ban crayons.

by wzdd 1y ago

add-sub-mul-div 1y ago

Invoking the cliched comparison of AI to past inventions in a discussion about parroting is brilliant satire.

cgio 1y ago
While I agree, making the assumption that our GP was not indeed using an LLM, that has a lot to say about the essence of the article’s argument. We were maybe already stochastic parrots and are just building tools to be more efficient at it.
- bluefirebrand 1y ago
  > We were maybe already stochastic parrots and are just building tools to be more efficient at it. I think we can and should firmly reject this notion If humans were mere stochastic parrots we would not have the ability to build the Internet we're talking on right now
  - cgio 1y ago
    Not sure about that, we are happy to assume that a stochastic process such as evolution culminated in advanced life forms but reluctant to admit that our own creations could be the outcome of a stochastic process on communication patterns.
logicprog 1y ago
So is writing an ultimately empty essay mostly composed of other people's quotes, thoughts, and concerns

conartist6 1y ago

The basilisk consumes the minds of those who worship it. It's mostly in the tech industry though that you find people who have such a tenuous grasp on the natural order that they honestly believe serving the basilisk is what's best

metalman 1y ago

other comments mention things like the "geat filter" and how (further) abandonment of the written word could become a class definition, these are not trivial speculations......many of us here will have experienced predjudice and bullying for bieng "overly" literate in school so the notion of literacy becoming a liability is reasonable, especialyconsidering that the president just finnished his first book, and it didn't go so well, so he might just save everyone from having to suffer as he has, and ban crayons.