I think i may need a break from mastodon.
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@gloriouscow @cr1901 For myself, with regards to dealing with the cognitive dissonance, of watching technologists I personally know and admire adopt LLMs (some of which are on here, too, and who I am somewhat embarrassed to say have seen my unhinged anti-AI posts 😅):
I think this has been much easier for me to deal with, because my personal observation for a long time has been that technologists have a very weak sense of ethics. Both in the sense of having good ethics that I agree with, and in the sense of having thought about the subject of ethics at all. Most technologists have not sat down and decided what their moral boundaries are, and what the relationship of their own morality is to the technology they use or develop. Even very skilled ones that I have learned a lot from. Most people are content to think that technologies are value-neutral, and are content to follow the trend of what everyone else is doing.
I have observed brilliant technologists, long before LLMs, shrug at the ethics of many other things, so for me it is entirely believable that they shrug at the ethics of this, too. I don't think many of these people are inherently morally bad, but I do think that they just don't care. This is bad because I do think that people just following the trend into widespread AI adoption is an ethically bad outcome. However, I also think that as AI backlash increases, if the pendulum swings back to anti-AI being the norm in software: they will follow as well.
It is also the sad truth that for minority women in many computer fields, we must work with brilliant peers who are not necessarily bad people, but who by way of their privileged position in life will say and do ignorant things. We must see someone saying something hurtful, but not make a fuss about it, because it's not worth the time of having to personally educate that person, to deal with the backlash, or to be labelled as a "confrontational" person. And we must do this as well, for brilliant colleagues and mentors and people we admire, and that we learn a lot from. So in that sense, I am very well practiced at this kind of cognitive dissonance - I do it in order to preserve a career.
I hope this is maybe a little helpful for you, though this is only my personal experience. And if you do take a break, I hope it is a restful and rejuvenating one!
i mean i know the tech-bro type, and ever since John Carmack revealed some profoundly bad takes I have been careful about putting people on a pedestal just due to technical prowess. people don't typically become my friend just because they are good engineers, i like to become friends with people that make me laugh, who can be real with me, vulnerable, frank, and generous with knowledge and experience.
the kind of qualities that don't typically make me think someone's ethical machinery is broken.
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@gloriouscow @lritter i don't know of any hash tags for those but i'd be astonished if there weren't any
@gloriouscow @lritter also I highly recommend following @ clever_reports@mastodon.art, and also all of the great lakes live bots
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@gloriouscow @lritter also I highly recommend following @ clever_reports@mastodon.art, and also all of the great lakes live bots
# BloomScrolling !
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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@penryu ha! Yes.
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@vincent you're really keeping the .makeup TLD in business, friend
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@evan Interesting. Shortly after moving to the South Bay, a coworker declared that no one east of Tracy deserved a vote. Would you say that yours is a counterpoint to his assertion?
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@evan These are the most common _serious_ options OTHER native Californians have given me for this legendary divider.
(Foolish me thought Sacramento would be a natural divider, but alas, I was laughed out of the boutique shop.)
What would you consider more serious (if not canonical) locations?
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@liaizon hug the guy at your corner store while you can
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@penryu and a lot of people think Northern California starts around Santa Rosa.
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@penryu when you're actually in this area you realise that Central California is actually a pretty important thing.
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@penryu these are pretty funny options.
