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20 sats \ 7 replies \ @optimism OP 15h \ parent \ on: The week in AI, July 14-20, 2025 AI
Of course! That was a nice post, actually important to think about.
I think that the Luddites are a fear based program to make the people fear anything new. Of course, you can understand the survival potential of fearing the new thing, whatever it may be, in the evolutionary scheme of things. New things often kill, don’t they? So, by appealing to the fear of the new, they can try to make static their surroundings, especially if it accrues to their interest. It is the same in politics, fear is a good driver, isn’t it?
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Yes, I think new & improved is the thing that's scary, especially in the current case, where you have guys like Elon and Sam Altman telling you that you, at something very close to your core - your thoughts and cognition - are what's being improved by some new robot thing.
What's funny is that Elon seems to go back and forth, as @cointastical shared an interesting tweet in a comment yesterday:
At times, AI existential dread is overwhelming
Which is rich, and perhaps also worrying, coming from the guy that just released an LLM last week and also just raised another 50B shitcoins for the next one...
But, you're right, the appeal to fear is awful. To counter it, I:
- Don't use any of their products, while using open-source/weight LLMs and other AI solutions, because
- To stay ahead, it's useful to maximize my knowledge and experience with this scary thing and,
- If they're all correct and I will be obsolete, I will at least not go without a fight.
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I think that the best cure for the fear is The Litany Against Fear from the Dune novels. Once you realize the fear is only within you, can you cure it.
Anyway, maybe Musk is just a front for some nefarious organization to get these things out in the public. He seems to be something of a clown.
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And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
That's where I'm at, though honestly, when I had the thought of "fear", it took about 20s for arrogance to kick in and declare "Hell, no!" and "Over my dead body" to the AI guys that suck VC that suck rich people for money.
Fuck these guys.
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I have to agree about what is happening. There will never be an AI that can think for itself, other than to statistically line up words one after another in pleasing arrangements. The lawyers have found out how well AI works for them in legal briefings and how much trouble they can cause.
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I hope to see so many more lawyers get rekt on this. An example needs to be set and this feels like the correct avenue. Sorry lawyers but you've gotta take one for the team now.