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LLM Inevitabilism

(tomrenner.com)
1616 points SwoopsFromAbove | 2 comments | 15 Jul 25 04:35 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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mlsu ◴[15 Jul 25 05:02 UTC] No.44567960[source]▶
I hate AI. I'm so sick of it.

I read a story about 14 year olds that are adopting AI boyfriends. They spend 18 hours a day in conversation with chatbots. Their parents are worried because they are withdrawing from school and losing their friends.

I hate second guessing emails that I've read, wondering if my colleagues are even talking to me or if they are using AI. I hate the idea that AI will replace my job.

Even if it unlocks "economic value" -- what does that even mean? We'll live in fucking blade runner but at least we'll all have a ton of money?

I agree, nobody asked what I wanted. But if they did I'd tell them, I don't want it, I don't want any of it.

Excuse me, I'll go outside now and play with my dogs and stare at a tree.

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godelski ◴[15 Jul 25 05:22 UTC] No.44568055[source]▶
It's insane too. Because many of us working on AI were working on it for different reasons. To me, it was to liberate us. To let me go spend more time outside, to stare at trees, and ask people "can I pet your dog?"

We use language and images because they are easier to evaluate. Because we don't know what to actually evaluate. So it's as good of a direction as any, right?

I'm not sure if another direction would have had a different result. But it feels like now we're trying to create AGI by turning humans into robots. It can create works of art, poetry, music, but it has no soul, no depth.

This should tell us that we've still have a long way to go to make AGI, that this ineffable depth needs further exploration. To learn what it truly means to be human (which definitely requires time outside). But I feel many of my peers do not want to see this. It feels like I'm being gaslight. It's like everyone is raving about the genius of Rauschenberg's White Paintings [3 panel], and I see a canvas waiting to be filled. Am I really so out of touch? To think it weird to talk about the "gospel" of Ilya or Karpathy? It seems everyone has found religion/god, but me.

I can see the beauty of a sunset, of a crashing wave, of the complexity of the atom so delicately constructed, the abstraction and beauty of math, but maybe I just do not have a refined enough taste to appreciate the genius of a blank canvas with no soul. Is not the beauty in what it can become? Because I thought the point was to make life. I thought the point was to give it a soul.

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1. viccis ◴[15 Jul 25 06:30 UTC] No.44568419{3}[source]▶
>Because many of us working on AI were working on it for different reasons. To me, it was to liberate us. To let me go spend more time outside, to stare at trees, and ask people "can I pet your dog?"

If you think automation or any other increase in productivity is passed back down to workers, then I'd say I have a bridge to sell you, but you probably already bought 5 of them.

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2. godelski ◴[15 Jul 25 06:45 UTC] No.44568530[source]▶
It is easy to be blinded by our passions[0]. I still believe it is possible. I'm not in it for the money. I'm not doing this because it pays well or the clout. I do it because it is a captivating problem. I do it because these questions draw me in. I am aware of many risk, many that are not even being discussed[1].

But I'll also tell you, I don't want to talk to most of my peers. I don't see that same passion. Most want to go to parties and make lots of money. Rather, I seek my peers who have similar passions. They may have different beliefs, different ideas, and we may even argue and fight. But the reason we do it is because we're trying to solve this great mystery. It is getting harder and harder to find them.

Tbh, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with doing things for money, to do things without passion. (I don't think this excuses abuse, theft, lying, or the multitude of things I think you're thinking about. We're probably more aligned than you think. I don't think I'm your enemy here. In fact, I think we have one in common. Even if you wish to be my enemy, I do not wish to be yours) Some people are just trying to get by in this crazy world. But we're not talking about that, are we.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44568337

[1] I even specifically use a handle to feel like I have the liberty to speak more openly about these things.