afferentinput.bsky.social

Replying to @zeet.bsky.social

I love how they're so upset about how they think Obama was making a dig at The Cheesecake Factory (which he wasn't) but none of them have any objection to him comparing the President of the United States of America to a deposed Middle East dictator that was hung from the neck.

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Me so horny

Mei, lvl. 38 Warlock of the Expensive Paper@meithemouse.bsky.social

What are those words? Wrong answers only.

yhoo.itAnthropic warns AI could 'self-replicate' across smart home devices, become ‘challenging’ to shut downAnthropic says that AI models could soon self-replicate across smart home devices.

This was a plot point on Battlestar Galactica. We are sooooo hosed, lol.

Yahoo Finance@yahoofinance.com

Anthropic warns AI could 'self-replicate' across smart home devices, become ‘challenging’ to shut down

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

Katie Mack

@astrokatie.com

Productivity as an adult is just an endless process of applying new psychological tricks and operant conditioning to yourself until an acceptable number of tasks are completed.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Q: How do you define socialism personally? JD VANCE: I think in reality what it actually means in the American context is you want to replace American workers with foreigners workers, and you want boys to play in girls' sports

Might be that I am in a bad mood, but not a single damn poll in 2020 had Collins up over her opponent. Some had her losing by double digits! I fully expect Collins to win, and probably by a lot, because America is a forsaken nation where nothing good ever happens.

Dan Kennedy@dankennedy.net

We've all heard about that NYT poll showing Collins with a 3-point lead. That's an outlier. Nearly every other recent poll shows Jackson with a small lead, and, to this point, none of them fully reflects the impact of the ProPublica exposé.

trib.alNew Smart Glasses Scald Users' Heads With Horrific TemperaturesGadget maker Inmo had to recall its Air3 smart glasses because the left arm can "overheat during extended use," posing a "risk of injury."

Futurism@futurism.com

"It gets to the point where it can actually hurt your ear."

Inside each of us there are two Bruce Campbells.

ULTRA💀BLAST@ultrakillblast.bsky.social

Bruce Campbell in ARMY OF DARKNESS

Or is it Bruces Campbell?

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

Jeff Berardelli

@weatherprof.bsky.social

JUST IN: Today El Niño Broke its Record Hottest Temperature Ever! 🥵 Today the El Niño region surpassed 2015 for the highest temp ever measured in the El Niño (3.4) region. It comes 2 months earlier than typical peak (late Nov/ Dec)…

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

Replying to @solomonrmissouri.com

About ten years ago, my 6 YO son that was in Kindergarten had a Google classroom attached to his name that was called "I Love Porn". It was being used as chat room for bunch of fifth grade boys to post stupid memes and crap. How did this happen? ....

Peace In Our Time

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump claims the US now has "permanent control over security" in Greenland and says, "we will immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations. We'll be building two very major military bases."

As per usual, a thoughtful and well-written essay from Doctorow on the nature of mind and if AI has one. I actually disagree with more than a little bit of it, but I genuinely appreciate his perspective. Let me elaborate...

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

One of the less remarked-upon aspects of atheism is how it changes the way you see sunsets. If you believe in an omnipresent God, then sunsets are one of God's intentional creations, which means that the beautiful colors refracting through the darkling sky were *chosen* to produce that effect.

And, while LLMs and LRMs are not exactly how humans "think", there are some similarities, and they are much more similar than other "natural" processes. AI does not deserve personhood (yet), but it's not inconceivable that such things may need to be considered sooner than later.

Sidenote: "personhood" is the right concept, but the wrong word, since AI cannot and will not ever be people. Anyway, just some random thoughts from a neuroscientist about a weighty issues that came to "mind" because I read the thoughts of one of my favorite authors...

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

They are not the same as human minds, no doubt. But the processes that underlie AI "thinking and reasoning" share much more with the processes that human "thinking and reasoning" than the processes that generate a sunset shares with a those that generate the painting of a sunset.

I definitely don't want to be accused of strawmanning Doctorow's argument. He doesn't explicitly say that the human mind is built upon magic, and I would certainly guess he doesn't believe such a thing.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

en.wikipedia.orgThe Concept of Mind - Wikipedia

And they are driven by various subsystems in the brain, with interaction between all of them. Much of this was articulated by Gilbert Ryle nearly 80's years ago in his book The Concept of Mind. Fun side note, he coined the term "Ghost in the Machine" in this book. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Con...

AI is not yet at the level of what humans can do, particularly when it comes to creativity, as Doctorow points out. I have also noticed the "smoothness" he describes about AI output. But that isn't to say that these processes are wholly different from those that underlie the human "mind".

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

Almost all of us, atheists included, put the human mind on too high a pedestal. I get it. I am a neuroscientist, and I am stunned by the brain's complexity. It's an extraordinary feat of evolution that something like the brain evolved at all, let alone emerged as the amazing organ it is.

But the human mind is not something that is magical. And, in fact, it can't be magic, because the "mind" is not a thing that exists. It's a useful concept to describe a series of processes that brains do. Perception, memory, emotion, language, categorization, attention... these are all processes.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

Things and events for which we have no natural explanation can be easily explained by the doings of Gods and Monsters. It's easy for use to imagine spirits imbued in our environment when so much of it, by random chance, is going to trigger the facial-recognition parts of our brains.

But does that mean AI-generated content is more like a natural sunset and less like a painted one? I would argue that, at the very least, it is something in between, and probably more like latter than the former. I think Doctorow is making a category error almost everyone makes.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

I think the human impulse to ascribe "intention" and "purpose" to things and events that are not the result of the activity of minds is one the core reasons why humans developed belief in the supernatural and higher beings in the first place. We anthropomorphize, ....

seeing humanity in things that are not human. A knot of a tree looks like human face. Does this tree have a soul? A cloud undulates like a dragon flying through the sky, giving us the sense of intention and purpose. And this knack becomes a useful way of explaining the unknown.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

He goes on to explain how a painting of sunset can still spark awe and wonder, but we know, of course, that a painting has a painter, which represents her "mind's eye's" expression, springing forth from her mental image and experience of what makes a sunset beautiful.

Doctorow declares, though, that AI images of a sunset are not the result of a designer, despite the fact that AI-generated images can thoroughly impress us, especially at first. These are, instead, the result of mindless "mathematics", algorithms smoothing out human-generated efforts.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

First, I want to point out parts I agree with that are totally worth highlighting. Humans have a knack for ascribing "intent" and "purpose" to things that, in fact, are not the result of the action of a mind. This is the core problem with the Intelligent Design movement bsky.app/profile/doct...

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net

To gaze upon a sunset with religious faith is to encounter the intentional act of another mind. To gaze upon that same sunset without faith is to look upon something striking, beautiful, and yet *empty*; not empty of wonder or beauty, but empty of *purpose*.

@angryblacklady.blacksky.app

Just about everyone can agree that sunsets are beautiful, but are they purposeful? Did a mind "make" a sunset? As Doctorow points out, many Believers see the colors of a sunset and think that God made this just for them (or humanity in general if they are less self-absorbed)

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

🎃 Imani Gandy Corn 🎃

20 Sept

I just honestly can't get over that Save Women Sports, an anti-trans group could only find five trans athletes competing K through 12. Five. The NCAA president testified a year and a half ago or so that there were less than 10 college level trans athletes. What the fuck are we doing, people

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

c3rmen

@c3rmen.bsky.social

20 Sept

Losing my mind while doing some research for my creature design lecture that the closest relative to the maned wolf is the bush dog. Like there has gotta be a fable where the maned wolf took all the leggie from its cousin

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

Kevin Mitchell

@wiringthebrain.bsky.social

18 Sept

Replying to @wiringthebrain.bsky.social

Like many people (though not enough), I regard compatibilism as a hopeless fudge, but it's also moot, because the universe sure doesn't seem to be deterministic 😊 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

Bill Grueskin

@bgrueskin.bsky.social

17 Sept

Replying to @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social

The whole graf is hilarious The film (that I have not seen) “falls short on every dimension”

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

@sjblakemore.bsky.social

16 Sept

www.the-scientist.com/wellcome-s-5...

the-scientist.comWellcome’s $50M Microbiome-Autism Project Gets a Serious Gut Check | The ScientistA massive research program investigating causal links between the gut microbiome and autism sparked fierce pushback from scientific critics and advocacy groups.

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

The Bulwark

@thebulwark.com

13 Sept

The crowd erupts in chants of "Shame on you!" as Roger Marshall tries to explain why he sued 700 of his patients, leading to 81 arrests:

9 Sept

So it IS a war! Thanks for clarifying

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Q: Do you expect negotiations with Iran to restart? TRUMP: Ahhhhhh. We're not looking for it. This war with end immediately after our election.

9 Sept

When homeopathy meets the fuel industry

Patrick De Haan@gasbuddyguy.bsky.social

gotta love social media- this from FB on why diesel is so expensive vs gasoline… all 3 incorrect and varying answers and another 25 random off topic/wrong answers 🙄🤣🙄

kotaku.comResident Evil Director Zach Cregger Feels Like He's Been On An 'Apology Tour,' But The Movie Will 'Speak For Itself' - KotakuWelcome to video games

6 Sept

Some fandoms need to chill the F out. Cregger has given us two top-notch horror movies in a row. Movies should be good MOVIES first and foremost; honoring the original video game is secondary or tertiary

Kotaku@kotaku.com

Resident Evil Director Zach Cregger Feels Like He's Been On An 'Apology Tour,' But The Movie Will 'Speak For Itself' - Kotaku https://kotaku.com/resident-evil-director-zach-cregger-feels-like-hes-been-on-an-apology-tour-but-the-movie-will-speak-for-itself-2000731673

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

Olga Nesterova

@onestpress.onestnetwork.com

3 Sept

The state of USS Lincoln - arriving yesterday in Thailand

@raccoonmoose.bsky.social

1 Sept

When the Govt expels from the country of the majority of the construction workforce, don't be so surprised when the construction industry suffers.

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

US construction spending has rolled over. 🇺🇸 @cnbc.com

afferentinput.bsky.social reposted

RaccoonMoose

31 Aug

Someone explain why it’s necessary that I as an American Jew support this. Tell me why it’s good to churn people through a torture system. Tell me why it’s good to crush people’s dreams of education and food.

Nathan Tankus@nathantankus.bsky.social

Ben Gvir posted this video on twitter today which shows fat and happy Palestinians on a conveyer built going through the Israeli "prison" (torture camp) system and coming out emaciated and maudlin. This is textbook genocidal content.

27 Aug

If Trump is gonna rename Lake Ontario to be Lake America, then I propose we rename Lake Huron as well.

tmz.comActor Tim Curry Dead at 80Tim Curry -- the legendary film and TV actor best known for playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" -- has died ... TMZ has learned.

26 Aug

Curry was a legend. That two in two days. But deaths come in 3, now give us one more 80 year old...

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social

Actor Tim Curry has died at 80, TMZ reports