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DandomRude

@ DandomRude @lemmy.world

Posts
68
Comments
360
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • What makes LLMs interesting to investors is not so much their usefulness, but the fact that the technology goes very well with the "just believe in me" approach.

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  • Thank you, I really appreciate that.

    Figures and/or examples would be very interesting for:

    1. The statement that LLMs will continue to develop rapidly and/or that their output will still improve significantly in quality. I currently assume that development will slow down considerably—for example, with regard to hallucinations, where it was assumed for some time that the problem could be solved by more extensive training data, but this has proven to be a dead end.
    2. The statement that the value of the companies involved can be justified in any way with real-world assets. Or, at any rate, reliable statements about how existing or planned data centers built for this purpose can be operated economically despite their considerable running costs.
    3. How you justify your statement that it would be realistic to replace human workers on a large scale. Examples where this is the case would be interesting (by this I don't mean figures on where workers have been laid off, but examples of companies where human work has been (successfully) made obsolete by LLMs – I am not aware of any such examples where this has happened in a significant way and attributable to the use of LLMs).
    4. I am aware that the technology is being used in warfare. I am not aware of its significance or the tactical advantages it is supposed to offer. Please provide examples of what you mean.

  • What makes LLMs interesting to investors is not so much their usefulness, but the fact that the technology goes very well with the "just believe in me" approach.

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  • Considering what LLMs are useful for, I wouldn't say so. But in terms of how it's all being marketed, how it's being pushed on consumers for no apparent reason, I definitely agree.

  • What makes LLMs interesting to investors is not so much their usefulness, but the fact that the technology goes very well with the "just believe in me" approach.

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  • Do you have any sources that cite figures that would suggest this? To be honest, I have my doubts—except for the statement that money is being shifted back and forth; however, I don't understand why massive investments in data centers would make sense in this context if it's not just making a profit for Nvidia and such.

    As I said, I don't consider LLMs and image generation to be technologies without use cases. I'm simply saying that the impact of these technologies is being significantly and very deliberately overestimated. Take so-called AI agents, for example: they're a practical thing, but miles away from how they're being sold.

    Furthermore, even Open AI is very far from being in the black, and I consider it highly doubtful that this will ever be possible given the considerable costs involved. In my opinion, the only option would be to focus on marketing opportunities, which is the business model of the classic Google search engine—but this would have a very negative impact on user value.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • Thank you for this comment. I completely agree with you: I think all it takes is people who act according to their conscience—that results in a community worth living in. That's all it takes.

  • Of all modern Sci-Fi Dystopia depicted in movies, which do you think our world will most resemble or already does resemble?

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  • I would say that we will very soon find ourselves in 1984 or perhaps Brazil, with a little bit of The Circle and Her thrown in, but overall it will be more like The Road due to climate change, unless Elysium technology has been developed by then, which is unlikely, but if so, it will certainly be used as depicted in the film.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • How can the fascists be prevented from presenting their inhumane, xenophobic ideology as patriotism? How and why would anyone stop people from using a word? How is that supposed to work?

    Language is a cultural matter that changes in its use. In this context, (social) media are pretty influential these days. However, the problem is that because a few very influential people can influence what billions of people see, they also have a disproportionately greater influence on the discourse from which the usage and meaning of terms derives. Therefore, it seems to me that the only people who could prevent others from presenting fascist ideology as patriotism are, unfortunately, the same people who ensure that fascist propaganda is presented as patriotic.

    An example: Ten years ago, it was unthinkable in Germany to use Nazi slogans in public. People who did so were socially isolated because they were Nazis. Today, however, politicians can stand in front of the camera and quote Goebbels. The reason, in my opinion, is that all this Nazi crap has been pushed so hard by influential media billionaires that it now gives the impression of being a socially acceptable attitude. My point: It can also be an effect created by the media, especially social media: It seems as if you can say these things without running the risk of being socially isolated for your inhuman views – and unfortunately, this has now spilled over into the real world.

    What I mean by this is that in order to influence discourse and thus also the usage and meaning of words to some extent, you need to influence the media that people use - and these media platforms are controlled by people like Musk.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • But stopping things like flag pledges that I mentioned would make the word less powerful for misuse.

    Well, I can see that you disagree and I don't think we'll ever see eye to eye on this.

    My opinion is that patriotism and nationalism cause far more harm than good. Of course, one can disagree, but I haven't read a single comment in this entire thread that addresses why patriotism is so important or what positive effects it has.

    Only references to the fact that nationalism and patriotism are not the same thing, which is clear to me — still: interestingly, no one has addressed where the difference lies. And no one has addressed the actual statement, namely that both concepts are abused as instruments of power.

    That's a shame.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • If people didn't invoke patriotism so excessively, as they do, for example, in the US with flag pledges in schools, Stars and Stripes air shows at sporting events after the national anthem, that gets played nearly every time, flags everywhere from houses to tv shows, and much much more constant declarations of love for this proud nation, if all that would not happen every day, don't you think it would be way harder to spread propaganda on this basis?

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • No, but give them as few opportunities as possible to justify their misdeeds. Patriotism is traditionally the favorite argument of unscrupulous oportunists: they invoke it because it appeals to people and offers them a way out, a way to legitimize morally reprehensible acts—in the sense that you can do whatever you want because it is in the service of the fatherland.

    How this works can currently be seen in Israel, for example: here, soldiers commit terrible atrocities and claim that human rights do not apply to enemies of Israel, enemies of their holy fatherland. So they act as ruthlessly as possible because it is supposedly patriotic.

    It is important to make it clear that people remain people, even if they have a different nationality. Emphasizing national pride and all that makes this more difficult, because if you always emphasize how proud you are of your country, you inherently emphasize at the same time that people of other nationalities do not belong. For reasonably rational people, it is of course perfectly obvious that this does not imply any judgment of people of other nationalities—on the contrary, many are rightly proud that their country is just and guarantees human rights. The problem, however, is that many people are anything but rational—and some of them are only looking for (spurious) arguments to use against others: patriotism is ideal for this purpose because it is an abstract concept - there is no universal definition of what it means.

    That's why I believe we should emphasize patriotism as little as possible and instead stick to concrete issues—such as emphasizing a fair legal system and so on. This makes it less abstract and offers less potential for abuse.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • Decent people.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • All I want to say is this: if you insist on portraying patriotism as something good and lose sight of reality in the face of idealism, however desirable, this leads to situations like those in Nazi Germany—and history is currently repeating itself in the US. The reason will always be the same: unfortunately, people are not inherently good, and the bad ones know how to exploit this.

    With regard to the US, my point is simple: patriotism is an abstract idea that is currently being massively abused by fascists to create an unjust state very similar to Nazi Germany, which fortunately came to an end. They are using exactly the same propaganda techniques that the Nazis used in Germany to establish their reign of terror.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • If you agree with me that patriotism has been misused for the most horrific atrocities ever committed by humankind, where do you see the value of this concept? Even if one starts from a purely utilitarian ethic, what could ever outweigh that?

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • The actual Sturmabteilung (SA) and all other Nazi divisions also claimed to be patriots—they killed millions of people under this premise. That is a fact, and that is what I am getting at.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • My argument is that terminology is irrelevant; what matters is how both concepts are used in practice: both are employed and explicitly emphasized to persuade people to serve a centralized power, usually against their own interests. This was the case in the Third Reich and is also the case in the US today (and in many other countries as well).

    What I'm getting at: Theoretical distinctions are only relevant in theory, but not when you look at practice – and there it makes no difference whether someone calls themselves a nationalist or a patriot if both can be used to suppress dissenters by force.

    It would be nice if people who call themselves patriots were good people, but history teaches us that they are usually not.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • If patriotism were practiced in this way, it would be desirable, but that is not the case. The current US administration's portrayal of its criminal actions as patriotic duty should be example enough. This obviously has nothing to do with what you are saying. And yet, it is the reality.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • Here's an example of what I mean: Every ICE employee in the US will claim to be a patriot. I don't think there's much more to say about that.

    I'm from Germany myself, and I can assure you that every Nazi in the Third Reich also considered himself a patriot.

    Your distinction may be relevant in theory, but it is not in practice.

  • Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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  • I still think they have the same effect.

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Patriotism and nationalism are instruments of power

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    Are we still living in the information age, or is the technology that makes this possible being used in such a way that it has the opposite effect?

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  • Deleted

    Are we still living in the information age, or is the technology that makes this possible being used in such a way that it has the opposite effect?

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  • Deleted

    Are we still living in the information age, or is the technology that makes this possible being used in such a way that it has the opposite effect?

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  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    People are unable to recognize their true enemies.

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    What plot would a political thriller written in 50 years' time have?

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    The triumph of AI marks the end of the information age.

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    What concrete steps can be taken to combat misinformation on social media? This problem is hardly an issue on this platform, but it certainly is elsewhere. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    What is your opinion on national pride / patriotism?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Who will be the villains in future Hollywood movies?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Have you ever had fruitful discussions cut short because OP deleted the post? If so, is this a fundamental problem or just an annoyance?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Why is Lemmy so US-centric? The largest instances are in Europe, aren't they? So why does it have to be US news trolling as if it were Reddit?

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Lemmy is ... ahhrrr, c'mon ... WTF? ... the door! ... who the hell would ... ? ... where is this darn towel ... AHHH, FUUU ... hnnnrrghhh ...

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Is social media an appropriate term to describe the logic of these applications? Or is it a term that obscures the logic of these applications?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Considering all the technological advances humanity has made in the last 50 years, has humanity evolved in terms of civilization, stagnated, or regressed?

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    The end of humanity will come about through people's apathy.

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    In your opinion, what is the purpose of a legal system? And do you think that the legal system in the country you live in fulfills this purpose?

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    One major issue with social media is that it operates on a first come, first served basis. This essentially rules out the possibility of well-considered, well-researched content being successful.

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Why should I continue to financially support the development of Lemmy when the developers operate .ml, an instance that is a prime example of arbitrary censorship?

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    The most significant factor standing in the way of human progress is people themselves.

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    How can children be introduced to digital technology and the internet in a playful way? At what age is this appropriate? And how can this be done without exposing children to all the negative aspects?

  • Showerthoughts @lemmy.world
    DandomRude @lemmy.world

    Social media is to democracies what PVP quick matches are to decent players: the worst teammates refuse to take any advice, but are still very vocal. This usually ensures that the team loses.