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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 2d

LLOL, I mastered mooching like a dollar in quarters from my parents and hoping it didn’t drop me in the bike race / snake game, which I was bad at. BUT! I loved it regardless. The joystick lit up!

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 2d

I have fond nostalgic memories of the TRON arcade cabinet with the custom joystick, which was not so secretly great and I’m not afraid to say it. Take that, Master Control Program!

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 2d

Pretty confused by how TRON became a big-budget movie franchise. Was it a bit hit when it came out? No. Did it become a big hit on video/TV? Also no. Do people have fond nostalgic memories of it? Eh kinda but not really. Was it secretly great and critically acclaimed? No again

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 5d

I realized long ago my book would not have been an authentic biography of Clyde Bruckman unless it were an embarrassing boondoggle for all involved. And “it seemed like something nice might happen … until the SWITCHAROO!” is a classic gag structure and recurring theme in Bruckman’s life. But still!

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 5d

*if your work was stolen AND your publisher registered the copyright like they said they were going to instead of immediately going out of business.

Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 5d

You can now search the Anthropic database for your books 📚 and then file a claim directly if your work was stolen: secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

Submit a Claim

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 5d

And he seemed so happy!

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 6d

But the broadest form of the claim is that people who are disrespectful about AI are crypto-bigots sublimating their hatred, and that is offensive and smarmy. I had a few small beers and now am gonna shut up and listen more. Cheers!

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 6d

That phenomenon is not and should not be part of the conversation about A.I. rights, A.I. “consciousness,” or the well-funded efforts to convince people these tools are more capable and useful than they actually are, or managerial dreams of replacing human workers with AI tools.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 6d

In the cold light of day, I think using a “slur” for an inanimate object is offensive to the degree it refers to an actual slur for humans and *because* of the actual slur for humans. And it does sound like racists are trolling in this way.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

I didn’t know people were using phrases like that and I think those are all horrible things to have said.

Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

“Cruel” is a slippery word here because it brings in a lot of concepts that aren’t really in play when you insult a computer program! But yeah, we just disagree on this.

1.a. Of persons (also transferred and figurative of things): Disposed to inflict suffering; indifferent to or taking pleasure in another's pain or distress; destitute of kindness or compassion; merciless, pitiless, hard-hearted.
1297-

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

It doesn’t! It isn’t! Humans aren’t involved. Human liberation isn’t involved. If you’re mad about people dehumanizing (human) AI supporters *in addition to being mean and insulting about a computer program*, that’s a whole other problem!

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

Thank you! I hope I wasn’t too abrasive, it was interesting to hear where this line of thinking comes from. I do think if you’re worried that people who dislike LLMs are crypto-bigots you can relax, at least about that. Plenty of actual bigots out there, no need to invent new ones.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

“Delight in dismembering it as one would a duck” is doing all the work there. I enjoy wailing on a piñata as much as the next kid but it wasn’t because what I really wanted was to murder ducks with a baseball bat.

Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

I hate interstates. Loathe them! Think they’re a scourge. Say mean things about them. Do you think I am sublimating my bigotry against some marginalized group of humans? Do these “proponents?” Are they right, in your view?

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

I don’t think that the moral force of human liberation enters into this at all, on anyone’s side, which is why “slur” is out of place. I don’t run around using the word “clanker” but I don’t think I’d suddenly start using other slurs if I did. I might become ruder, but that isn’t the same thing.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

I mean, my point is that the word “slur” is being used to leverage the history and moral force of a very real and very human struggle into an argument that neither one of us sincerely believes is about people.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

Using “cruelty” is slippery. Can inanimate or lifeless objects suffer, or feel pain or misery? It might not be good to destroy objects, but it also isn’t cruel, at least not to the objects.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

Yes, if bozo were a slur, it would be a slur to use it. This is true of any insult, but to my mind, a slur has to have an actual association with the oppression of actual human beings.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

I think that your example is white people trying to find a way to slyly reference a real slur, and by so doing, assert that black people are not human. “Clanker” doesn’t work that way, and no one is using LLMs as a stand-in for actual humans except for the ones claiming “clanker” is a slur.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

That’s appalling. What real world slur about humans does “clanker” refer to?

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

Well, they were wrong. It wasn’t! It was bait, or trolling, or whatever you want.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

Fair. “I hate bozos” is linguistically similar too, but it is not a slur. I think that since the people who use the word “Clanker” are the same people who do not think LLMs are human, you don’t have to worry too much about a permission structure that will result in them using slurs for humans.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

A lot of things that are not slurs are structurally similar to slurs. Insults. Dismissive or rude nicknames. You don’t call any example of an insult a “slur” for a reason.

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

And “linguistically similar?” “LLMs are not human” is not linguistically similar to using a slur. Insults and slurs are “linguistically similar” but they are not the same. There’s a reason you landed on “slur.”

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Matthew Dessem @matthewdessem.bsky.social · 7d

If what you mean is “saying ‘Clanker’ is offensive to me, because I love LLMs,” well, that’s a different statement. You are trying to leverage the moral force of humanity’s struggle for liberty and equality into an argument about computer programs. I find *that* offensive.

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