I think these articles are your best format. I enjoy them a lot more than the podcasts. A lot easier to consume 20-30 minute pieces uninterrupted than a 2 hour pod. Great work.
I especially liked your point about the “nerd superiority complex” at the end. I’ve been wrestling for a while with the reality that the most abusive people I’ve ever met were all intelligent in abstract areas (though not quite as smart even there as they thought) and incredibly dumb most everywhere else, but especially socially. They were *just* bright enough to wedge themselves into positions of power where they could overawe everyone beneath them with their supposed prowess, and bully everyone else who wasn’t so easily impressed. (They were all too old for the nerd stereotype to be intuitively obvious.)
So yeah, maybe LLMs are “intelligent”, but since they’re designed by people who aren’t very trustworthy in real life, well…
Also, this is providing an answer for why my boomer in-laws are so enamored with chatting with their bot. Somehow messaging ChatGPT gives them a sense of cred that talking to their kids doesn’t. (“But it’s really accurate”, my MIL protests. “Yeah,” I say, “its entire purpose is to make you think that.”)
I keep looking for the spark of personality or idiosychracy or inspiration you'd find in a bright child given an assignment or project… And it just isn’t there
I think these articles are your best format. I enjoy them a lot more than the podcasts. A lot easier to consume 20-30 minute pieces uninterrupted than a 2 hour pod. Great work.
I especially liked your point about the “nerd superiority complex” at the end. I’ve been wrestling for a while with the reality that the most abusive people I’ve ever met were all intelligent in abstract areas (though not quite as smart even there as they thought) and incredibly dumb most everywhere else, but especially socially. They were *just* bright enough to wedge themselves into positions of power where they could overawe everyone beneath them with their supposed prowess, and bully everyone else who wasn’t so easily impressed. (They were all too old for the nerd stereotype to be intuitively obvious.)
So yeah, maybe LLMs are “intelligent”, but since they’re designed by people who aren’t very trustworthy in real life, well…
Also, this is providing an answer for why my boomer in-laws are so enamored with chatting with their bot. Somehow messaging ChatGPT gives them a sense of cred that talking to their kids doesn’t. (“But it’s really accurate”, my MIL protests. “Yeah,” I say, “its entire purpose is to make you think that.”)
The sychophany is what gets me about AI.
I keep looking for the spark of personality or idiosychracy or inspiration you'd find in a bright child given an assignment or project… And it just isn’t there
I have faith that reality (scarcity) is real, and that the bigger our pile of smoke and mirrors the bigger the crater’ll be when it collapses.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/the-first-bubble-of-the-age-of-hyper