this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2024
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TechTakes

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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

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daniellamyoung_3h

Unpopular opinion: you only hate chat gpt because it makes it harder to stack rank and discriminate against people.

So what everyone can write well now? great it's a tool! Just like moving faster because you drive a car.

The good news is you'll be easily able to hire for that writing job you need. The bad news is you won't be able to discriminate against candidates who are not as good with the written word.

Also, an obsession with the written word is a tenant of white supremacy [salute emoji]

Ian Rennie
‪@theangelremiel.bsky.social‬

Man, this probably hits really hard if you're fuckin stupid.

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[–] swlabr@awful.systems 16 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I looked through her recent replies on threads, and while she has deleted the original post, it looks like she is doubling down on this take:

I guess I’ll say this in a different way, the language around that SOME people are using around chat GPT is the same panic language society always uses with new “advancements” or tools. We saw it when GPS became a thing, we see it now with people freaking out about cursive going away, and oh my, they definitely saw it with calculators. At its core it’s a “geez how are we gonna tell people apart anymore, if we can’t test these skills.” That’s not the only argument about it…

there are plenty of things to talk about about AI But this language definitely exists in the conversation. I recognize it easily, because it’s very, very Culty. It’s this very apocalyptic nature of discussion around it instead of the acknowledgment that human beings will keep building tools that will change everything.

every time a new tool makes certain skills that we test for to rank folks obsolete human beings freak out

To which all this I say… wow, she really has decided to just ignore all the discourse about generative AI*, huh? Like sure you can use this analogy but it breaks down pretty quickly, especially when you spend like 5 minutes doing any research on this stuff.

*Would love to start using a new term here because AI oversells the whole concept. I was thinking of tacking something onto procedural generation? Mass PG? LLMPG/LPG? Added benefit of evoking petroleum gas.

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 19 points 2 months ago

Have you considered

AI PISS

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 19 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

That analogy is horseshit because gps and the death of cursive were both need based

Generative ai / chat gpt for writing fiction has no need nor real purpose despite them desperately pinwheeling about jamming it everywhere possible.

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The only use I've had for writing cursive in 30 years has been to copy out an anti-cheating pledge on a standardized test, because some fucker thought cursive magically makes a pledge 300% more honest.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 3 points 2 months ago

yup, hence saying its death was need based.

People don't write cursive for the same reason that councils don't put in new horse troughs.

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 5 points 2 months ago
[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 9 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I've been playing with "mass averaging synthesis machines", variations on "automated plagiarism", "content theftwashing systems"

still undecided tho

[–] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm still partial to "spicy autocomplete" as a good analogy for how these systems actually work that people have more direct experience with. Take those Facebook posts that give you the first few words and say "what does autocomplete say your most used words are?" and make answering the question use as much electricity as a small city.

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

As much as it is a good phrase, I’m too used to seeing “spicy” as a compliment, so it doesn’t work for me!

[–] o7___o7@awful.systems 7 points 2 months ago

Charles Stross suggested "Blarney Engine"

[–] YexingTudou@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Considering the amount I have to say the term whenever ranting or debating, something that can be shortened is welcomed. I like the idea of calling "automated plagiarism," since it can be shortened to "autoplag" which is also ugly sounding.

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

autoplag pronounced like “auto-plag” or “auto-plage”?

[–] ConsistentParadox@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 months ago
[–] vvvvv@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

gps

Can anyone elaborate on gps panic please? What happened when it became available?

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Personally i’ve never heard of a moral panic over GPS, though if pressed I could manufacture some. So that one seems like something dreamed up by the author. Would love to be proven wrong!

[–] mpk@awful.systems 8 points 2 months ago

Ooh, I know! I'd not exactly call it a moral panic but there were people who were convinced that people would be driving off cliffs or getting lost in the mountains because they didn't have the skills to read a paper map properly. Wasn't very convincing, especially as if people are determined to be stupid enough to drive off a cliff without noticing they're going to find a way to do that even if there's a big sign in front of them saying "Cliff, do not drive off".

In much of the world online mapping services still aren't anywhere near the standard of a proper topological map and there's really no substitute for (say) an Ordnance Survey map if you're climbing in the Cuillins, but that's not the fault of GPS.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

It's barely was existant. At least with Photoshop, you had the occasional outrage over some manipulated photos created in order to spread hate (anyone remembers the photo where someone photoshopped the heads of Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden onto Jewish people who wore big stars of Davids?) or create fake nudes, or the elitist oil painter that already had problems with other mediums just found yet another one to be snarky at something else besides of pencil drawings.