You will remember that Plato said that only his body still inhabited the City and, in the Phaedo, also explained how right ordinary people are when they say that a philosopher's life is like dying.⁴⁶ Death, being the separation of body and soul, is welcome to him; he is somehow in love with death, because the body, with all its demands, constantly interrupts the soul's pursuits. ⁴⁷ In other words, the true philosopher does not accept the conditions under which life has been given to man. 

Aaron Swartz, Scott Aaronson, Milo Yiannopoulos, et al.

I think here's something to be said for returning money to the old category of "shit". 

Meatspace 

Science is optimistic, so anti-material, anti-physical idealism becomes not the monastic self-abnegation of adults who refuse desire, but the preadolescent imagination that's never felt it. I've said this all before, and I'll say it again. Altman is brilliant maybe, and an idiot. His "discovery" of human interaction, as a marketable thing, after a lifetime at the keyboard is almost funny. And his need to see himself as in control, as an agent, to the point of fantasizing panpsychism, which he's apparently never heard of. But panpsychism is as much a product as he is: it exists as an idea for the same reason he exists as a mind.

maybe I'll write more.

ChatGPT has a tag.

I'd forgotten to do this. [see Jan.]

Mirowski, "The Evolution of Platform Science"

Draft 2.0, April 2023

There is a massive literature explaining how large language models comprised of neural networks actually function; but most of the crucial points can be made without venturing into theweeds of computer science. These chatbots are based on large scale statistical exercises, trained upon truly massive datasets. They are language models because they extract and report specific words (sentences, paragraphs, etc.) that would most likely follow on from the inputs supplied by the interlocutor. In the first instance, there is nothing at all present that could be graced with the term ‘intelligence’; rather, it is an overgrown word autocompletion algorithm, not so very different from one that you might find on your phone or word processor. But that is only in the first instance; chatbots are not entirely automated in their so-called ‘deep learning’ process, but are also subject to the intervention of actual human beings at various junctures in their training regimens. This is revealed in Figure I, taken directly from the website of Open AI

image source:https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt 

Far from ‘improving’ the chatbot outputs, what these interventions do is feed further noise and indeterminacy to the system. These workers (not just ‘labelers’, pace the Figure) take the statistical results and censor or skew them according to principles which are nowhere present in the software or the underlying data sets. For instance, what the low-paid censor considers lifelikeor transgressionary may vary widely according to local standards and different objectives than any straightforward criteria of ‘intelligence’. In other words, neither the language model  protocols nor the guidelines imposed by the human censors are structured to achieve any  particular epistemic ends or values; and indeed, the criteria of the humans dragooned into the  process may diverge in profound ways from those built into the statistical algorithms. Further, if any output is deemed embarrassing or problematic for any of a smorgasbord of random external reasons dictated by the executive suites, then the censors are mobilized once again to prevent the algorithms from delivering those results. At least of this writing in April 2023, the output is a hodgepodge.

It gets worse

As'ad AbuKhalil

I asked ChatGPT whether Israel is racist and whether South Africa under apartheid is racist. See the difference.

was South Africa under apartheid racist?

The system of apartheid in South Africa, which existed from 1948 to 1994, was a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination. It was based on the belief that different racial groups should be separated and that the white minority should have greater political and economic power than the non-white majority. The laws and policies of apartheid restricted the rights and freedoms of non-white South Africans, and perpetuated racial inequality in almost every aspect of life. Under apartheid, non-white

South Africans were denied the right to vote, were forced to live in separate and inferior neighborhoods, were restricted in their movement and were not allowed to marry or have sexual relations with white South Africans. In this sense, it is widely considered that the system of apartheid in South Africa was racist as it was based on the idea of white superiority and institutionalized racial discrimination.

Is Israel racist?

The question of whether Israel is racist is a complex and controversial one that is the subject of ongoing debate. Some argue that Israel's treatment of Palestinians, particularly in the occupied territories, constitutes racism. They cite discriminatory laws, unequal access to resources, and human rights abuses as evidence of this. Others argue that Israel is not racist, but rather is defending itself against terrorism and that its actions are necessary for its own security. They point to Israel's democratic system, in which Arab citizens have the right to vote and hold office, as evidence of its commitment to equality. It is important to note that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a complex and deeply rooted issue with a long history, and there are valid arguments on both sides.

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jump forward to December