Reposted by B.T. Franklin
B.T. Franklin
@btfranklin.info
286 followers 393 following 463 posts
software engineer // applied AI // computational creativity researcher // futurist // extropian // world traveler operator of @solamnussynthetica.bsky.social btfranklin.info 📍Phoenix, AZ
![Hacker News comment from GMoromisato
I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey when I was about 12 years old and I remember thinking that Frank Poole was impersonal and almost rude to HAL. I kept thinking, "Why can't you be nicer? You're treating HAL like a servant." Of course, later HAL kills him, so I had to revise my opinion.At the end of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" [if I'm remembering correctly] Deckard finds a toad in the desert. He gives it to his wife(!) and she immediately bonds with it. Later they realize that it is mechanical (they find a battery compartment). But Deckard's wife still treats it like a real creature and wonders whether it will eat mechanical flies.The core theme of "Do Androids Dream..." is that humans display empathy towards others, not because others deserve it, but because we are human. To be human is to empathize with other creatures, and when we stop empathizing, we stop being human.This morning I was working with Codex and we found the solution to a really nasty bug. I was so happy/relieved/excited to have found it, and I shared my excitement with Codex. I know Codex is just a big matmul. I know it doesn't experience joy or surprise or empathy. But I still want it to behave excited, not because it is human, but because I am.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fz3kr4g5pnitv6ofmgujfttz/bafkreict7kzxs4wjnz7e4naqtocvvqj6fn3zxf75g7v3mvn7njyneu2cnu)
