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0 pointsRastonbury1y ago0 comments

Counter point the number of supposedly educated people falling into social media echo chambers parroting partisan views, sharing on ramps, recommending supplements. They obviously do not see the harm, if fact they feel superior, feeling the need to educate and lecture. The vector here was social media, the vector here is reliance on chatbots. I mildly trust the big player like Anthropic and even OpenAI, but imagine the talking head influencers/supplement peddlers making and promoting a un-woke chatbot. People are already relying on chatgpt to navigate medical conditions, personal/relationship issues

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echelon1y ago

I feel my response here [1] also applies to you.

People are going to do these things anyway. We've had "yellow journalism" since the 1800s. It's a tale as old as time.

What right do we have to go around policing other people's minds?

When I grew up, the Internet was an escape from the puritanical censorship of the southern baptists I was surrounded with. It was a bastion of free information and idea exchange. If the prevailing ethos of the 2000s wasn't so anti-censorship, I wouldn't have gotten outside of my own filter bubble and found a way to explore other ideas. I would have been chased away as an undesirable member of the opposition and muted, censored, and banned. Thank god the algorithm didn't exist back then.

The things we do to each other in today's internet are abhorrent. Both sides of the political spectrum attempt to constrain what the other side can do. We need to stop that. It's petty and increases polarization. And that's exactly what's happening with your suggestion - you're wanting to censor ideas and things you don't like that presumably this technology will be used to promote.

Please stop thinking LLMs are an agent of the enemy to convert more people to their causes. The opposite is also true. And the impact won't be as extreme or dire as you make it out to be - heaven forbid people buy more vitamins. Oh, the humanity.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42499972

ben_w1y ago

If yellow journalism is bad, is not fully automated and personalised yellow journalism worse?

weberer1y ago

There's nothing wrong with supplements. I live in a place where you're lucky to get an hour of sunlight per day in the winter. Vitamin D supplements have been very helpful.

Philpax1y ago

I suspect they're referring to the Infowars kind of supplements, not vitamin supplements.

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