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AI tools are making the world look weird

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Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#21

Post by coherentpony »

felipeerias wrote: post #17

There is undoubtedly a real effect here, but IMHO one problem with the original article is that it treats the US as the only reference point. On the one hand, this reflects the US dominant position in world affairs and the fact that probably most of the training materials come from there. But on the other hand, there are some outlier results that are left unexplained. For example, ChatGPT is even more aligned with Ja…

> For example, ChatGPT is even more aligned with Japan than with the US

I have no expertise in this field.

Is it actually even more aligned? Or is it simply aligned with the elements of Japanese culture and/or media that are exported to the West?

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#22

Post by psidium »

notjoemama wrote: post #19
psidium wrote: post #5

Can’t recommend the book that coined this acronym enough: The WEIRDest People in the World Book by Joseph Henrich. It is such an eye-opening piece that explains so much of the world around us. He’s an anthropologist that goes into the psychology of it all. Touching on points like how religion plays a part in shaping the America of today and even how humans are worst at discerning faces today because we need to discer…

I haven't read the book but it sounds really interesting. Regarding tone though, > monogamy is to blame for a lot of our western views today Does the author use the word "blame" to mean "the reason for" or do they present it as a critique of monogamy? Not a big deal, just made me curious when I saw that.

I meant it as “is responsible for” or “explains”. The author doesn’t seem to make any judgement in over the other, but he presents polygamy in a society as a causation for male violence. Sorry for that, English isn’t my first language

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#23

Post by cjauvin »

psidium wrote: post #5

Can’t recommend the book that coined this acronym enough: The WEIRDest People in the World Book by Joseph Henrich. It is such an eye-opening piece that explains so much of the world around us. He’s an anthropologist that goes into the psychology of it all. Touching on points like how religion plays a part in shaping the America of today and even how humans are worst at discerning faces today because we need to discer…

One of my greatest pleasure of random walking the internet is building my list of possible next books to read.. thank you for this one!

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#24

Post by Waterluvian »

psidium wrote: post #5

Can’t recommend the book that coined this acronym enough: The WEIRDest People in the World Book by Joseph Henrich. It is such an eye-opening piece that explains so much of the world around us. He’s an anthropologist that goes into the psychology of it all. Touching on points like how religion plays a part in shaping the America of today and even how humans are worst at discerning faces today because we need to discer…

> humans are worst at discerning faces today because we need to discern letters and words and dedicate brain power for that.

I have absolutely nothing to back this up, but my gut tells me this risks being one of those bold claims that grows legs and runs for a while until we debunk it.

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#25

Post by psidium »

derefr wrote: post #10
psidium wrote: post #5

Can’t recommend the book that coined this acronym enough: The WEIRDest People in the World Book by Joseph Henrich. It is such an eye-opening piece that explains so much of the world around us. He’s an anthropologist that goes into the psychology of it all. Touching on points like how religion plays a part in shaping the America of today and even how humans are worst at discerning faces today because we need to discer…

> One of the wildest claims in there is the one that the north of Italy is more developed today because it was part of the Holy Roman Empire while the south wasn’t. About a thousand years separate these and he finds effects still. I would note that the north and south of Italy have very different geography and climate. Which can be upstream of all sorts of things, culturally. The geography of Italy's two halves suppo…

Yes, your point and other points around the web I’ve seen make his argument about north and south Italy very controversial to say the least. He does have data to back it up, where he presents distance to nearest church as a predictor for how well a population will fare, and south Italy didn’t have the churches that north the Italy had

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#26

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #16
simonw wrote: post #2

WEIRD here stands for "Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic".

I’ve seen a massive uptick in the use of ‘weird’ as an insult (charitably because all the old insults get you shadowbanned on social media, less charitably because conformism is what the mainstream values more than anything), so the author isn’t even pretending to hide their agenda here.

Could you explain the agenda to those of us like me, who missed it anyway?

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#27

Post by DaveZale »

cjauvin wrote: post #23
psidium wrote: post #5

Can’t recommend the book that coined this acronym enough: The WEIRDest People in the World Book by Joseph Henrich. It is such an eye-opening piece that explains so much of the world around us. He’s an anthropologist that goes into the psychology of it all. Touching on points like how religion plays a part in shaping the America of today and even how humans are worst at discerning faces today because we need to discer…

One of my greatest pleasure of random walking the internet is building my list of possible next books to read.. thank you for this one!

yeah I just ordered a copy of "We Survived the Night" based on a post here. Never would have heard of it otherwise.

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#28

Post by hiatus »

DaveZale wrote: post #27
cjauvin wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my greatest pleasure of random walking the internet is building my list of possible next books to read.. thank you for this one!

yeah I just ordered a copy of "We Survived the Night" based on a post here. Never would have heard of it otherwise.

Mind linking to the post for the curious?

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#29

Post by DaveZale »

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #16
simonw wrote: post #2

WEIRD here stands for "Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic".

I’ve seen a massive uptick in the use of ‘weird’ as an insult (charitably because all the old insults get you shadowbanned on social media, less charitably because conformism is what the mainstream values more than anything), so the author isn’t even pretending to hide their agenda here.

I heard a congressman in a town hall meeting last night call a colleague "crazy liberal" - a psychotherapist called in and said don't use that word "crazy" - language is being perverted here

Re: AI tools are making the world look weird

#30

Post by shermantanktop »

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #16
simonw wrote: post #2

WEIRD here stands for "Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic".

I’ve seen a massive uptick in the use of ‘weird’ as an insult (charitably because all the old insults get you shadowbanned on social media, less charitably because conformism is what the mainstream values more than anything), so the author isn’t even pretending to hide their agenda here.

The idea that “mainstream” values “conformism” seems like a relic of the 1980s. Have you looked around at public figures in the news? There’s less Debbie Boone and more Dennis Rodman going on. The freaks are flying their flags out there for everyone to see.
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