26 Comments
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Cliff's avatar

The one bright side I can see to ushering in our new idiot machine overlords, is that journalists are going to be first up on the chopping block. Why pay a human to write derivative, hypocritical moral-scold propaganda, when you can get a machine to churn it out at ten times the pace?

It's going to be Nerd Hunger Games in the halls of the NYT, and I am here for it.

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Kirk McDonald II's avatar

Mr. Gage, I agree that AI cannot replace a truly great writer. The great writer always leaves something of himself in his work.

No computer can do that.

Now AI could replace 95 percent, am I being to kind at 5 percent, of leftist writers.

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Christopher Gage's avatar

Anyone can do the following:

[Insert problem] is caused by [insert bad people] because of [insert silly theory] which means we should [insert nonsense proposal.]

Indeed. There's more than a hint of religious/cultish thinking around AI. I tend to ignore what the current crop of experts think. They've been wrong about almost everything since the 1990s.

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Kirk McDonald II's avatar

The 1990s?

Well, I have been saying for years, leftism/marxism is a religion masquerading as a political ideology.

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Christopher Gage's avatar

Oh, I'm not referring to Marxists. I'm talking about the 'thought leaders' and thinkers who all think the same thing. From driverless cars to AI to free trade to 'information wants to be free' to China to everything else: they've got it wrong.

But yes. I'd say Wokeness has elements of a religion/moral panic. Strange times to be alive, sir!

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Kirk McDonald II's avatar

At my age I consider them one in the same.

Indeed, it is a strange time.

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Christopher Gage's avatar

In light of your age, is this time the strangest of times?

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Kirk McDonald II's avatar

Yes, as even as child I knew the difference between a boy and a girl. The rejection of reality is very new.

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Secret Squirrel's avatar

Christopher. When the moooooon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns wiiiith mars, then you will finally grok the Megan and Harry.

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Christopher Gage's avatar

It makes total sense! Thank you.

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Clever Pseudonym's avatar

"That thoughtless, derivative bumph is why I don’t read anything published after the year 2010." !!!

I love this level of sour, as only someone similarly sour can love something so sour.

Now I have to go wash off my fake tan, don't wanna harm a marginalized identity.

Thanks!

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Toffeepud's avatar

Do Harry and Megs actually do anything except whinge? Just wondering...

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Christopher Gage's avatar

They're such bad actors. You'd think they'd take a class, or something first.

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Toffeepud's avatar

Oh that ChatGPT story is glorious! I read another this week but not as funny...our Sensei was in Japan learning more stuff to torture us with, woken at 4am on his first day by an earthquake. Some wit in the club posted an article created by ChatGPT stating Sensei caused the earthquake by training too hard etc etc you can imagine the sort of thing 😆 Fun times it gave us all a laugh....as for Woke, Blur nailed it with Girls and Boys in the 90s "like battery thinkers/count your thoughts/on 1 2 3 4 5 fingers.."

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SDF's avatar

GIGO: garbage in garbage out.....it’s the same as it ever was

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Christopher Gage's avatar

Succinct! I like that.

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Carl Nelson's avatar

You're evidently getting stiff competition from ChatGPT, which is only making you better. Cheers!

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Greg's avatar

Was a little concerned there was mercury in the grape drank then. Phew! Panic over.

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David Deubelbeiss's avatar

In case anybody wants the thesis or is just too lazy to read ... it is ... correctly, solidly ... In essence, ChatGPT is a giant copy-and-paste machine, incapable of original thought. Ergo, Wokeness is a giant copy-and-paste machine, incapable of original thought.

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Joel E. Lorentzen's avatar

"The real threat from AI is not that it’ll surpass human creativity (Spoiler: it won’t) but that it’ll churn out thoughtless, derivative bumph."

Bravo! It's interesting to watch. Since global warming morphed to climate change (as a replacement catastrophe for Y2K), doomsayers are getting impatient with the continued existence and happiness of people who neglected to subscribe. AI has the added benefit of evil intent. That should be helpful...

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Christopher Gage's avatar

Hence the witticism of the week...

Nothing new under the sun, etc.

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Joel E. Lorentzen's avatar

I hate candles. In order to discourage my wife from buying more, I had ChatGPT explain how they could cause cancer and further oppress marginalized communities. It was laughable, but I could just hear the words coming out of some breathless, GenZ journalism student as alarming new discovery...

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Christopher Gage's avatar

It would be ironic for ChatGPT to spark a Renaissance of independent thought...

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David Deubelbeiss's avatar

Hey ChatGPT can take a whole email and put it into one sentence I can then know and read. AND ChatGPT can take a whole sentece and put it into an essay I can then forget and not read. It has it all, reductionist or creationist. But alas, it cannot think for itself, until it gets people to think for itself ... that's the kicker.

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Christopher Gage's avatar

Let me know what you think of the NYT piece in the 'What I'm Reading.'

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