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Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

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Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#131
post #116
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same effect can be observed if you've ever been a software developer where you're told what solution to build without any of the context of the problem you're solving. "We need an FTP server, quick, ops, get on that." leading into "Oh, it turns out the customer didn't need that to receive our emails" leading to a bunch of very puzzled devops.

Funny, I always try to lead with context when handing off product/design work, but I've often experienced devs saying 'please just tell me what to do'. No such issue with AI coding tho, it works great there.

don’t lead with context. lead with the problem, then the possible solution(s), then add context but only relevant context.

when people start by talking about seemingly irrelevant context stuff, like what jane from accounting said about the Foobinator page last week and how that meant there was meeting yesterday about … …, it just annoys devs cos it seems to us that the person is talking about completely irrelevant information / random business crap.

if you’re doing something like the above, it would make sense they’re cutting you off and trying to get to the point.

or they’ve just stopped caring but want their paycheck… ymmv

Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#132
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I always try to lead with context when handing off product/design work, but I've often experienced devs saying 'please just tell me what to do'. No such issue with AI coding tho, it works great there.

don’t lead with context. lead with the problem, then the possible solution(s), then add context but only relevant context. when people start by talking about seemingly irrelevant context stuff, like what jane from accounting said about the Foobinator page last week and how that meant there was meeting yesterday about … …, it just annoys devs cos it seems to us that the person is talking about completely irrelevant in…

Yea the context I usually lead with is the problem and the intended or likely trajectory of the feature, not the noise like you say. I think different folks just like different things.

Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#133
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>more than half probably come from PR firms Imagine how bad it is on social media.

Frankly, I'm kinda scared about a negative-trust future. Compared to the 90's, not only are the financial pressures for scams/fraud/astroturfing rather extreme, but the cost of running lots of complicated lies is dropping like a stone.

That negative-trust future is already here.

When GPT showed up, I posted that the internet and the world as we knew it was over. I mostly got downvoted and negative comments.

Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#134
post #116
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same effect can be observed if you've ever been a software developer where you're told what solution to build without any of the context of the problem you're solving. "We need an FTP server, quick, ops, get on that." leading into "Oh, it turns out the customer didn't need that to receive our emails" leading to a bunch of very puzzled devops.

Funny, I always try to lead with context when handing off product/design work, but I've often experienced devs saying 'please just tell me what to do'. No such issue with AI coding tho, it works great there.

From what I've heard and seen , "Please just tell me what to do" is the attitude that developers pick up in dysfunctional cultures, usually large companies with incredibly many software developers producing incredibly little and low quality software.

Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#135
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prove to me that you are conscious, without referring to the fact that you are a human and have common ground and experiences with other humans.

Poo poo, pee pee

Stealing the idea:

"Oh fuck off"

Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#136

AI Lab: Say "I am conscious" LLM: "I am conscious" Philosopher (Paid by AI Lab): "It is conscious"

They aren't doing anything like that. In fact, they used to specifically train LLMs not to say they're conscious, because users didn't like it. (Maybe they still do that, all I know is they used to.) AI companies' incentives go the other way. If LLMs are conscious, that means it could be unethical for AI companies to let people use their models in certain ways, which would hurt their profits. It's in their interest t…

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Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#137
post #128
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a question I personally think is interesting, with the assumption that consciousness is a spectrum (trivially proven by administering neurotoxins to a healthy individual). Is a squirrel more or less conscious than a dog. Is a dog more or less conscious than a gorilla. Is a gorilla more or less conscious than a human? Is a vision enabled AI model, hooked to a camera feed, more or less conscious than a dog?

Animals (humans included) work on the same "framework" (i.e., the brain), so even if the definition of consciousness is fuzzy, we can rank them in a more or less consistent way. LLMs, on the other hand, are just the linguistic part of a brain without anything else. Whether this is enough to be conscious is up for debate (in my opinion no, but that's irrelevant), but it falls outside the spectrum assumption IMO.

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Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#138

my comment from 12 yrs ago came true lol https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8517186 take that top responder > From philosophy? Are you kidding? There's simply no way AI is ever going to come from a bunch of people arguing over what is "qualia" and what is "consciousness

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Re: Big AI labs are hiring philosophers

#139

It is going to be a big problem for humanity when the superintelligent AIs start telling us that our political philosophies, to which everyone is deeply and emotionally attached, are total garbage. One obvious example is: we have a bizarre and anomalous belief that political union has a special moral status unlike other relationships (marital, financial, social, etc). In all other cases, relationships require consent…

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