Live data from Hacker News

Make up a guy

antipope.org

131–140 of 176 posts

Re: Make up a guy

#131
What God creates is not science fiction, but rather reality. He does indeed "make up a guy".

Psalm 139 expresses this insight:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Re: Make up a guy

#132
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. But it would if bio-terrorists did it, and we were left with the result. Or, should we let cows go extinct instead? Or suffer? Just a thought and logic experiment.

Yeah, I don't think we should breed cows. I don't think anyone who is concerned about the welfare of cows to the point of not eating them will go "Oh, well now they also have additional torment baked into their biology, it's OK to A) breed them into a life of constant suffering B) Start providing the same cramped, unhealthy, and unpleasant living conditions at a young age that we already do C) Once the physical pain…

To me, your statements seem weird.

For example, slaughtering them before the disease exhibits symptoms, means we are 100% preventing that pain. Thus, C is null, and void.

I don't get A. Properly treated cattle, such as in most of the world, are grass fed, or grass fed harvested hay, and free roaming. Thus, A makes zero sense, as A doesn't even take into account medical care (vaccination, antibiotics, vets, birth assistance), nor does it take into account immense protection from predation. Cows properly raised, live pampered, easy, happy, lives.

In terms of slaughter, old factory methods let cows horribly hang by their legs for hours, while they slowly bled out. Smaller concerns were more humane, but at least most of the world insists of quick, painless death for cattle. Where I live, it's destruction of the brain, such as a bullet, immediately stopping all thought, and frankly, far better than a death where (for example) wolves rip you apart while still alive, experiencing hours of agony.

(I have listened, where I live, at 2am to a pack of coyotes eating a large kill, its mewing, and cries of pain going on for more than an hour, it is NOT nice.)

I really think that if people care, really care, they need to stop basing opinions on false realities, and understand that often humans are far far far less brutal, than other animals.

Do you think a wolf takes care to kill a creature it is ripping apart? No. I just eats.

Cats "play" with mice, sometimes for hours before fully killing them. Mother cats also maim mice, so their children can learn.

Do you know why mice can breed from 2, to > 60, in a mere few months? To hundreds and hundreds in a year?

Because most of them are eaten alive, ripped apart while still living, by predation.

Nature is far, far more brutal than proper human animal husbandry.

Re: Make up a guy

#133
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try to find this balance between recognizing the humanity of everyone I interact with and not allowing this respect to be an attack vector. Over time, I have shifted more towards ignoring salesman in front of a store, not replying to messages and hanging up on a call as being things I'm okay with doing. I don't always give courteous attention anymore. I'm fine with giving nothing ("ghosting" as the kids say) and on…

The misanthrope in me has almost completely taken over when dealing with incoming sales calls, and I've almost completely abandoned the idea that anyone calling me to sell anything is worthy of the "humanity" label. The moment it's clear they are selling something (it's usually pretty quick) the reply is "fuck off, never call this number again, and go fuck yourself" then I hang up and block the number. I only wish I…

I’m not there yet but I get it. They’re taking something from you, your attention, and they’re trying to take more, your money. They hide behind social convention and you can’t retaliate in proportion.

Consider the return you’re getting by handing over your aggression to them. I don’t think you’re getting a good trade there. Saying “put me on your do not call list”, hanging up and blocking will have nearly the same benefit to your future but without the costs that the misanthrope brings.

Re: Make up a guy

#134
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I completely honestly would, and I'm confused that people wouldn't. That frog would hop off to lead a bleak, short, meaningless existence if I don't turn it into a person. Even if I wave the wand and make it human then fully abandon it, it'd still be a better outcome overall for a sentient being.

Interesting. Now suppose some advanced alien had the power to advance _you_ to his level of sentience , thus cutting you off from everything you have known and loved, including your family. Would you let the alien do that?

Hell yes. 100% every time.

Re: Make up a guy

#135
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh, this is a good read. Thanks.

It's written by the author of The Martian (before he got famous with The Martian)

His scifi book after the martian, was pretty good too.

(the name eludes me)

Re: Make up a guy

#136
post #94

Related: Better to Never Have Been by David Benatar It's a position of antinatalism . Antinatalist philosophy roughly claims that sentient beings are harmed when they are brought into existence, and it is therefore wrong to procreate. I think everyone ought to consider this philosophy / argument before having children - as to recognize the severity of the act. At the very least, not having children should be the defa…

I often pose the philosophical thought experiment: if you had a button that could end human existence instantly, killing everyone with zero suffering, should you use it?

Re: Make up a guy

#137
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This story convinced me to buy two of the author's novels, "There Is No Antimemetics Division" and "Ra", both of which I also thoroughly enjoyed, the former a little more.

No antimemetics division is great. Btw. Making SCP entries with chatgpt is some fun. However, for SCP-3125 I got: SCP-3125 does not exist, as it is not an officially recognized SCP number within the SCP Foundation universe. If you're looking for an SCP entry related to the number 3125, you can create one yourself or ask the community to create it for you.

Incredible.

Re: Make up a guy

#138
post #94

Related: Better to Never Have Been by David Benatar It's a position of antinatalism . Antinatalist philosophy roughly claims that sentient beings are harmed when they are brought into existence, and it is therefore wrong to procreate. I think everyone ought to consider this philosophy / argument before having children - as to recognize the severity of the act. At the very least, not having children should be the defa…

I often pose the philosophical thought experiment: if you had a button that could end human existence instantly, killing everyone with zero suffering, should you use it?

I'd like you to also consider the variation of "end all sentient existence instantly, preventing it from ever restarting"

One concern is wild animal suffering - https://wildanimalsuffering.org/

Re: Make up a guy

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And getting eaten by birds. All life in nature (except of top predators like us) is harsh, brutal, and short.

Ah, but in that case would they mind it being harsh, brutal, and short? Given the configuration of their mind's hardware On a side note, I get the impression most people just don't have a gut instinct for just how awful natural life is like for the most part

They mind it about as much as we do, judging by how hard they try to avoid it. It's silly to assume we're so different from animals that we're the only ones who don't like pain and death.

Re: Make up a guy

#140
post #92
post #3

I encountered the author’s short story that’s linked in the article, Lena [1], a while ago, possibly here on HN. It’s really great, but be warned. It’s one of the most deeply disturbing sci-fi horror stories I’ve ever seen. To be clear, most of the horror is implied rather than described, which I think only makes it worse. Part of me wishes I had never read it. Highly recommended, but if you’re at all in doubt if you…

If you think this is horrific, then you apparently assume that it has "consciousness" rather than only simulating it. A true AGI might be intelligent but only simulate consciousness. And yes, it might be difficult to tell the difference. This reminds me of Searle's Chinese Room thought experiment. In order to upgrade the Chinese Room to modern deep learning: suppose we run a brain image by instructing each human bein…

In a community like HN, where most people work on making rocks think, it’s no surprise when most people start applying the logic backwards: that since we think, we can be no more complex than rocks.
Post reply on HN