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@mttaggart Just wanted to note they did eventually take down the comments on the article, but only after Aurich edited his last one to say they might not be able to comment publicly on their investigation. Which is the absolutely possible choice Ars (and more likely Condé Nast) could make if they want to retain credibility on...well, anything, but specifically on their AI coverage.

@hackillu @mttaggart There's now a thread on the open forum.

EDIT: Oh, but it's been locked. I've bumped heads with Aurich about some stuff but I do trust him to be pretty open when they are ready to talk about it.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/

@hackillu @mttaggart You got the comments online anywhere? I am dying to see them.

@mttaggart Oh, I wish you'd gotten the comments too. I can only imagine what some familiar handles would have had to say in them.

@catselbow @handmade_ghost The summary of that sounds amazing, and it's long past time I read more Lem. But it also obliquely reminded me of "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" by John Varley. (Very different from the bad adaptation starring Raoul Julia.) In that story the protagonist's consciousness is temporarily stored in the computer that controls the whole world and he finds ways to entertain himself until they can put him back in his body.

@handmade_ghost @catselbow Are there giant people who can only see us when they eat the mushrooms?

@joepie91 @aburka @Viss I've observed in physical space bullying that there is a third type of person, who cares about being liked, but also is drawn to what they mistakenly perceive as power. They become the bullies' hangers-on without pushing boundaries so far they feel like they've become entirely unlikable to bystanders who are not targeted by the bullies but dislike their behavior anyway. (There may or may not be a political movement built on a shaky coalition of these sorts. And I may or may not have thought about this a lot in the context of a relative I understand a little too well.)

Online those people are the mealymouthed enablers. "Well, they do make an interesting point..." isn't enough to get them banned. When the bullies are banned they back off and won't make trouble on their own, but as soon as a new bully arrives they start supporting the behavior again.