- Post in !techtakes@awful.systems attacks the entire concept of AI safety as a made-up boogeyman
- I disagree and am attacked from all sides for “posting like an evangelist”
- I give citations for things I thought would be obvious, such as that AI technology in general has been improving in capability compared to several years ago
- Instance ban, “promptfondling evangelist”
This one I’m not aggrieved about as much, it’s just weird. It’s reminiscent of the lemmy.ml type of echo chamber where everyone’s convinced it’s one way, because in a self-fulfilling prophecy, anyone who is not convinced gets yelled at and receives a ban.
Full context: https://ponder.cat/post/1030285 (Some of my replies were after the ban because I didn’t PT Barnum carefully enough, so didn’t realize.)
Blocked that instance after I first saw it. We were never gonna get along.
I think Skiluros is right on the money, but I’m just going to point out something. (Disclamer: I am a regular reader of tech takes and I enjoy their snarky negativity)
You walked into a hater’s club with a rule of “no debates”, debated the regular posters, and got banned. Is it heavy handed? Maybe, but it is low-effort moderation. I get the feeling if they didn’t moderate similarly to this, they would be able to preserve the vibe of the place (and you are not obligated to like or agree with this vibe). They’re allowed to have their own corner of the internet.
I think they’d probably reverse it if you asked them to. I base this on the idea that instance bans are easy to hand out, and asking politely for an unban is something most banned people don’t bother to do. I could be wrong.
I bet they get absolutely flooded with folks who just want to debate instead of joining in on the sneering. It’s gotta be way lower effort to just ban people. It’s not like there’s any large communities on that instance (Look at their local front page: buttcoin, sneerclub, techtakes. All hater’s clubs, many posts months old on “active” setting), so I don’t think they’re doing real harm, either. It’s not like you were instance banned from like, lemmy.world or something.
There’s plenty of other communities to discuss AI on lemmy. IMHO, you’re just missing the point of techtakes. You don’t have to agree with them, just like they aren’t required to refute your youtube video.
That’s so weird, though. You can sneer at people who are wrong, without needing to mechanically censor anyone who might point out that you’re actually the wrong one. It feels like they want the bullying aspect without the fact-checking aspect. There’s plenty in tech that you can make fun of because it is wrong without needing to shield yourself from any possible criticism when you do that.
I didn’t check the instance rules, as I think most people don’t if something just occurs to them when they see something and they want to say something. I don’t care enough to beg for readmission. I’m just pointing out that they are being weird, and checking myself a little bit, and wanting to continue the conversation with anyone who wants to, in a place where I won’t be silenced.
I didn’t check the instance rules
Mistakes happen, but it is on you.
I don’t care enough to beg for readmission.
But you do care enough to type words and words and words somewhere else, no?
I’m just pointing out that they are being weird
I politely disagree. What you’re viewing as mechanical censorship is just community curation to them. Part of “power tripping” implies they are abusing power, and I don’t see them preventing you from participating with anything you appreciate. There’s plenty of other AI communities on lemmy.
In summary, a comic:
@db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com I would like to officially request a new rule for this community: Anyone who makes the argument “Yes but censorship is okay, because the mods are the boss, they’re doing community curation” should be banned with the reason listed as “If you insist.”
I’d argue that would be a power trip, friend, because he’s made a major change to the rules without his user’s permission. And, many people outside that instance depend on db0’s communities, which are large and varied. Very unlike many communities at awful.systems, which are meant for venting, snark, and sneering down your nose at people, warranted or unwarranted.
Everyone at awful.systems likely agrees with the moderation of the admins or they would not be there.
All of a sudden it’s totally different lol.
@db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com I was completely serious. I think it can form a good educational experience, leopards and faces and such.
I hardly think it’s suddenly different, it’s just actually different. It’s two different scenarios.
By the way, my dad works at nintendo and can beat up your dad.
It’s actually covered by the existing TOS. There’s affirmative support for the standards of:
- Welcoming attitude and approach,
- Rational debate and discussion,
- Genuine exchanges of ideas,
And under “What is Unacceptable,” it lists “authoritarianism,” and advocating or encouraging “the spread of behavior that is designed to overturn the standards described so far.” I’d say this absolutely qualifies as advocacy for both authoritarianism in moderation, and overturning the ideas of welcoming participants to a rational discussion and genuine exchange of ideas. You might not have been aware of it, mistakes happen, but it is on you.
The old school tech guys are super anti-AI. I think it’s the usual refusal to keep up with new tech.
I’ll admit, I was in the same basket, until I heard a professor speak about it at my son’s university. They were talking about university concerns of students cheating with AI, and one progressive professor told us about how she encourages its use. She said now that pandora’s box has been opened, the best thing she could do to best prepare them for the real world was teach them to use it properly to improve their workflow, rather than try to ban its use.
There was more to it, but at the end of the talk I realized I’d made the mistake of writing it off. I made the exact same mistake a lot of these tech guys are now, and underestimated how fast it’s advancing. I messed with AI a couple years prior, wasn’t impressed, and let that form my opinions. When I tried it again, I couldn’t believe how much more impressive it was than before. Then I stayed with it, and I couldn’t believe how fast I was watching it improve every single month. If you’re not working with it regularly, you really cannot understand how fast this is moving.
Realizing this was similar to the invention of the digital calculator, I tried to spread the word to the old farts that the abacus would soon be dead. But none of them want to hear it. Saying anything positive about AI will get you slammed with downvotes and bans, and lots of lectures like ‘I tried it two years ago, and it was a joke.’ It was shocking to me, how many Luddites are in tech.
Screw’em. Let them get left behind. Can’t drag someone into the future who wants to be stuck in the past. It still has a long way to go, but I’ve started using it to speed up my workflow. Even with the mistakes it makes, it’s worth it for how fast I can now get through the blank page phase of a project. No more boiler plate work slowing me down. It probably won’t become sentient in my lifetime, but damn if it isn’t an incredibly useful tool.
If the curtain catches fire, then pandora’s box has already been opened and you might as well start spraying gasoline around the room. No point trying to fix problems when we can just accept that the room is on fire and start preparing to be fireproof.
AI is a shitty attempt at a shitty thing. If it improves your work, then your work was REALLY bad. If it gets better, then it will be a GOOD attempt at a shitty thing. Your work is STILL really bad, but now you have a machine to make things you claim credit for. It will never be a good thing.
AI is a technological fire pit, and you are blindly walking into the flames so the other char-grilled victims don’t leave you behind. Let me put out the damn fire.
When you realize later that the world has left you behind, I want you to think back on this nonsense you posted.
