Post Ac2KB6seCyybDjqP7Q by phrees@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by phrees@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #Ac1qgclSiV8SSYaum0 by tante@tldr.nettime.org
2023-11-21T10:47:29Z
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If you want to understand the whole OpenAI thing, this article is super helpful because it explains that OpenAI is not a real research organization or tech company like the ones we know: It's a cult. It's basically Scientology 2.0.Quote:"The consequences are what you might expect when a crowd of bright but rather naive (and occasionally creepy) computer science and adjacent people try to re-invent theology from first principles, to model what human-created gods might do, and how they ought be constrained. They include the following, non-comprehensive list: all sorts of strange mental exercises, postulated superhuman entities benign and malign and how to think about them; the jumbling of parts from fan-fiction, computer science, home-brewed philosophy and ARGs to create grotesque and interesting intellectual chimeras; Nick Bostrom, and a crew of very well funded philosophers; Effective Altruism, whose fancier adherents often prefer not to acknowledge the approach’s somewhat disreputable origins."https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/look-at-scientology-to-understand
(DIR) Post #Ac1rueBeKDSssa5sQ4 by phiofx@hachyderm.io
2023-11-21T11:01:17Z
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@tante well said, but I somehow wish that all these perceptive and sharp-tongued commenters would find a way to promote and build an alternative tech world where the limelight is not eternally dominated by this absurd sociopath clan
(DIR) Post #Ac1wv2RedKiPsxaO6S by pleaseclap@urbanists.social
2023-11-21T11:57:21Z
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@tante To be fair, Mastodon has all of those things, too
(DIR) Post #Ac1xAITTJqGXwXiCH2 by tante@tldr.nettime.org
2023-11-21T12:00:04Z
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@maybit EA's history is full of shady people, eugenics, racism etc. If you want to read a good criticism of the thoughts underpinning the ideology check out https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/why-i-am-not-an-effective-altruist
(DIR) Post #Ac1xgzH9ihp1xKXTzk by Healthcarer@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T12:05:59Z
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@tante You wish.
(DIR) Post #Ac1zBYkgU6SIcpUbIG by mmby@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T12:22:46Z
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@tante I'm reminded of alchemy and how it was shrouded in mysticism, belief structures, personal networks and goals that were all based on extrapolating from small demonstrations and effects nobody understood the potentials and limits of
(DIR) Post #Ac2517qSGhrQ0JbF32 by Purple_Sky@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T13:28:05Z
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@tante They are all cults over there—fighting each other for full control of things. Protect your healthy mind firm.
(DIR) Post #Ac25nsJgn8rg26WGAq by skua@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T13:36:51Z
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@tante Judging just the quality of the rhetoric displayed in the article's title leads one straight to the superlative.
(DIR) Post #Ac27gXEoxjh0XYs0HI by kami_kadse@don.linxx.net
2023-11-21T13:58:00Z
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@tante very funny how Roko's Basilisk has been continuing to torture us every other year for more than a decade now
(DIR) Post #Ac28YBocpKaFjlCYqm by fragglesock@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T14:06:57Z
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@tante There should be a way to downvote websites with popups and paywalls.
(DIR) Post #Ac2B7XtsuLJWH9eGjg by neffo@mas.to
2023-11-21T14:36:30Z
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@tante I feel I'm missing out by not having started a cult by this point.
(DIR) Post #Ac2CRje92sg4S3Tehk by kierkegaank@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-11-21T14:50:21Z
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@tante OF COURSE Nick Bostrom has a boner for open ai :rolleye:
(DIR) Post #Ac2CyXEGEaXXUn0hkW by harry_wood@en.osm.town
2023-11-21T14:40:57Z
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@tante @maybit First thought: The Environment Agency? What's so bad about the Environment Agency?Second thought: Oh you mean EA games. Yeah those gamer types sometimes have dodgy politics.
(DIR) Post #Ac2GJwNmD1kDS3MNMG by kingu@mstdn.social
2023-11-21T15:34:45Z
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@tante Tagging myself as a reminder to read this tonight :)@kingu
(DIR) Post #Ac2GeLmfTcIQ1ZjcHY by flowerpot@mas.to
2023-11-21T15:38:23Z
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@tante That was insightful. Thank you for sharing!(I am more than a little freaked out that Claude Shannon liked L. Ron Hubbard and Dianetics. And I'm more than a little grateful that this appreciation occurred AFTER most of his philosophical contributions to information science. 😬)
(DIR) Post #Ac2GfB2itgRT08det6 by vic@seal.cafe
2023-11-21T15:38:45.791778Z
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@tante I'm not surprised there's a big demonic component to the organization (if not the entire thing). CERN has its own weird demon worship of Kali, the ones at the top of the tranny delusion worship Baphomet, the Star of David is really the Star of Remphan, Planned Parenthood is all about Baal/Moloch worship, etc.Basically the entire world is one big demon-worshipping, sacrificial altar that's masked from most people's view. AI really isn't any different.
(DIR) Post #Ac2H8IKWsmBW03qrjs by Okanogen@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T15:43:29Z
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@tante I figured it was something like that.
(DIR) Post #Ac2IYwI525qvQ0yVxQ by glennsills@dotnet.social
2023-11-21T15:59:47Z
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@tante This article is both too hard on the AI boosters and too kind. The technology known as AI has some technical uses that are good but are probably not world changing. Of course, the tech bros want everyone to think that they are world changing so they can hook some investors. It is very analogous to block chain/crypto foolishness.
(DIR) Post #Ac2KB6seCyybDjqP7Q by phrees@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T16:17:53Z
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@tante @maybit He should do a follow up entitled "Why I am not a utilitarian" in which he'd discuss effective altruism for the first two thirds of the text.
(DIR) Post #Ac2KPZzOmMMHYQtxg0 by tante@tldr.nettime.org
2023-11-21T16:20:32Z
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@phrees that's not totally fair: EA is utilitarianism on steroids so discussing the flaws of that ideology is essential when discussing what was built on top of it.
(DIR) Post #Ac2LTML1ZkjWKQNoYK by andy_twosticks@ruby.social
2023-11-21T14:26:03Z
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@kami_kadse @tante We should act now to avoid the future where predictions of Roko's Basilisk torture us.
(DIR) Post #Ac2LTNeufIEiQOhDBw by kami_kadse@don.linxx.net
2023-11-21T14:29:43Z
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@andy_twosticks @tante these aren't predictions
(DIR) Post #Ac2LTOaLDmApIVZ4hk by flowerpot@mas.to
2023-11-21T15:44:45Z
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@kami_kadse@linxx.net @andy_twosticks @tante@nettime.org TIL about Roko's Basilisk, clicked on the link in the article to learn more, read a little, and now I feel stupider because of it.
(DIR) Post #Ac2LTPYFd260IJav5M by tante@tldr.nettime.org
2023-11-21T16:32:27Z
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@flowerpot that happens a lot with that crowd and its beliefs
(DIR) Post #Ac2M1iDCku5S0z6e5A by jamesenge@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-11-21T16:37:33Z
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It's the churchiness of these AI guys that's the creepiest thing about the movement. They're like the idol-makers in Isaiah 44:9-20. So far the work of their hands isn't convincingly godlike, but they need to believe it is.More about Sam Altman and his god at the URL below.https://futurism.com/sam-altman-imply-openai-building-god
(DIR) Post #Ac2NQZbryWUOWt3seW by orionkidder@writing.exchange
2023-11-21T16:54:10Z
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@tante I'm reading this from a writers' instance, and it's really really important to resist the urge to write stories about the "singularity" just because, like the article says, it's a great SF premise. If we're going to write about this stuff, we should all be Cory Doctorow and viscously mock it for the world-destroying stupidity that it is.
(DIR) Post #Ac2P7ZT6TbbaUt1nns by gigantos@social.linux.pizza
2023-11-21T17:12:46Z
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@tante what is the argument here?The alternative version of OpenAI is an for-profit entity that makes the most powerful AI in the world without any limits.Not saying the article is correct or incorrect, but we do live in a world where no other entity is within a year of OpenAI when it comes to technology.I for one hope they do think a little about safety, and keep the greedy executives at Microsoft at an arms length.Though it is a good point, I just don't like the alternative.
(DIR) Post #Ac2SPt5iYe0EQnW06y by jhavok@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T17:50:13Z
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@tante If we are considering how to make AI benign, maybe LLM is not the right path, given that languages reflect human reasoning with all its irrational flaws. My general position is that a truly rational being would see that altruism is the least dangerous policy.
(DIR) Post #Ac2evneRW9WUHBk01Y by shokuninstudio@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T20:10:28Z
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@tante it’s remarkable that these people think consciousness comes from a language model when any truly rational person knows that consciousness preceded language. Yet they call themselves rationalists?
(DIR) Post #Ac2hGpixCq1Kh70ZSS by phrees@mastodon.social
2023-11-21T20:36:36Z
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@tante To be totally fair we have to consider EA proponents views about whether EA is utilitarianism at all.https://80000hours.org/2020/08/misconceptions-effective-altruism/#misconception-4-effective-altruism-is-just-utilitarianism
(DIR) Post #AcHGlMtIfpyar7a9oG by ikanreed@mastodon.social
2023-11-28T21:20:20Z
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@tante the main pretense of ea is the incredibly arrogant assumption that you can foresee all consequences of your actions, and, especially vainly, that others can't.