Live data from Hacker News

Semantics derived automatically from language corpora contain human-like biases

scim.ag

91–92 of 92 posts

Re: Semantics derived automatically from language corpora contain human-like biases

#91
post #89
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because there are things man should not know I get that you like to take contrarian positions. But you also make a habit of inserting flamebait into your posts about them. This combination is trolling. If you continue to do this we will ban you. Specifically, we need you to stop playing the following game on HN: 1. Post contrarian view 2. Include provocation 3. People get provoked 4. Act like people can't handle yo…

when you consistently generate such effects, you become responsible, regardless of what's wrong with others or their views Sure, some of yummyfajtias comments are a bit trollish but he points out real contradictions in submissions and other comments. I have his threads bookmarked and visit them directly to check my thinking. It would be a huge loss for HN. It's like the Socrates thing all over again. You would be ban…

Fortunately the trollish bits are easy to drop if one wants to, so we're not asking Socrates for much.

Re: Semantics derived automatically from language corpora contain human-like biases

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's inferring something about reality, but what? Suppose, for example, that I gave this same statistic to someone and then asked them to select from a pool of 100 applicants for 50 available places in medical school. Let's assume that there's an equal # of male and female applicants and that their exam results are all similar. Do you think that knowing about this 66-34 split might influence the gender balance of the…

Knowing about the gender balance wouldn't influence the final selection if you programmed the selection criteria not to be influenced by the gender balance. The whole point of training and using machines is to make more accurate, more useful decisions in a complex world. That can't happen if we give them data that isn't borne out by reality, or tell them to ignore data that is.

If you have to change the terms of the question to give an answer, then I think I've made my point.
Post reply on HN