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    724 points simonw | 13 comments | | HN request time: 1.277s | source | bottom
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    marcusb ◴[] No.44527530[source]
    This reminds me in a way of the old Noam Chomsky/Tucker Carlson exchange where Chomsky says to Carlson:

      "I’m sure you believe everything you’re saying. But what I’m saying is that if you believed something different, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting."
    
    Simon may well be right - xAI might not have directly instructed Grok to check what the boss thinks before responding - but that's not to say xAI wouldn't be more likely to release a model that does agree with the boss a lot and privileges what he has said when reasoning.
    replies(5): >>44528694 #>>44528695 #>>44528706 #>>44528766 #>>44529331 #
    breppp ◴[] No.44528766[source]
    and neither would Chomsky be interviewed by the BBC for his linguistic theory, if he hadn't held these edgy opinions
    replies(2): >>44528838 #>>44529261 #
    cess11 ◴[] No.44529261[source]
    What do you mean by "edgy opinions"? His takedown of Skinner, or perhaps that he for a while refused to pay taxes as a protest against war?

    I'm not sure of the timeline but I'd guess he got to start the linguistics department at MIT because he was already The Linguist in english and computational/mathematical linguistics methodology. That position alone makes it reasonable to bring him to the BBC to talk about language.

    replies(3): >>44529610 #>>44530761 #>>44548473 #
    1. xdennis ◴[] No.44530761[source]
    Chomsky has always taken the anti-American side on any conflict America has been involved in. That is why he's "edgy". He's an American living in America always blaming America for everything.
    replies(2): >>44530855 #>>44531712 #
    2. bbarnett ◴[] No.44530855[source]
    Isn't that a popular, trendy way to think/act now in the US?
    replies(2): >>44531858 #>>44533367 #
    3. code_for_monkey ◴[] No.44531712[source]
    I mean, its because for the last 80 years America has been the belligerent aggressive party in every conflict. Are you going to bat for Iraq? Vietnam? Korea?
    replies(3): >>44532337 #>>44538186 #>>44538861 #
    4. saagarjha ◴[] No.44531858[source]
    No.
    5. gadders ◴[] No.44532337[source]
    >>last 80 years

    Good job in picking your sample size.

    replies(3): >>44532431 #>>44532856 #>>44533447 #
    6. contagiousflow ◴[] No.44532431{3}[source]
    Think about this for a second, when was Noam Chomsky born, and and what age can you start having substantiated opinions?
    7. Epa095 ◴[] No.44532856{3}[source]
    Noam Chomsky is 96 years old, so 80 years ago he was 16. I don't think choosing a time span which is his adult life is unreasonable.
    8. serf ◴[] No.44533367[source]
    if you think that Chomsky's opinions are the popular/trendy opinions of the US as a whole then might I suggest you do a bit more research.

    US pessimism might be on the rise -- but almost never about foreign policy. Almost always about tax-rates/individual liberties/opportunities/children . things that affect people here and now, not the people from distant lands with ways unlike our own.

    replies(1): >>44534312 #
    9. code_for_monkey ◴[] No.44533447{3}[source]
    yeah I purposely picked a sample size to include the modern order established after ww2 because its largely so different than what came before it and includes basically all of chomsky's lifespan.
    replies(1): >>44534684 #
    10. bbarnett ◴[] No.44534312{3}[source]
    Maybe we're discussing different things, but endless Americans talk about failed foreign policy, how this and that was a mistake, how even if the US gets attacked in some way, it's somehow always the US's fault.
    11. gadders ◴[] No.44534684{4}[source]
    I'm not sure you can put 9/11 in that category, even if you do choose that time period.
    12. laughingcurve ◴[] No.44538186[source]
    In every conflict ? Or just in a lot of them
    13. twoodfin ◴[] No.44538861[source]
    Korea?!