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223 points benkaiser | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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szvsw ◴[] No.42537852[source]
It seems like LLMs would be a fun way to study/manufacture syncretism, notions of the oracular, etc; turn up the temperature, and let godhead appear!

If there’s some platonic notion of divinity or immanence that all faith is just a downward projection from, it seems like its statistical representation in tokenized embedding vectors is about as close as you could get to understanding it holistically across theological boundaries.

All kidding aside, whether you are looking at Markov chain n-gram babble or high temperature LLM inference, the strange things that emerge are a wonderful form of glossolalia in my opinion that speak to some strange essence embedded in the collective space created by the sum of their corpi text. The Delphic oracle is real, and you can subscribe for a low fee of $20/month!

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Grimblewald ◴[] No.42538268[source]
I've used it for something to this effect, personalized "mantras" or "prayers" which fit the specific collection / mix of theologoical themes/concepts that I personally identify with. Im not necessarily religious but there is something nice about thematically relatable theocratic babble to recite during times of great turmoil and confusion to calmn the mind. like an on-demand mental reset switch.
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TimedToasts ◴[] No.42540785[source]
Obviously the specifics will be private to you but can you elaborate a bit? This idea resonates with me.
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drekipus ◴[] No.42543250{3}[source]
Just join a church. The both of you. It really doesn't matter which one.
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1. Grimblewald ◴[] No.42599656{4}[source]
If you can find a church that suits your needs then awesome, but what if a core tenant of your religious belief is that the spiritual truth we seek doesn't reside in a single man, (or woman) or even an institution, but in all people. That religion is a deeply personal matter to be discussed only with those who are active, willing, and in the right head space.

For someone like that, which would include myself, a church, a priest, a pope, etc. all serve no purpose. in fact the only real purpose such an institution reliably serves in the long term is the perversion and exploitation of a fairly fundamental human need.