Compelling essay by sci-fi writer Ted Chiang on why LLMs are nowhere near consciousness, but why it serves the interests of LLM companies to constantly suggest that they might be.
I've pulled one quote below, but the whole article is worth reading.
The reason everyone is miserable is because of Jean-François Lyotard's seminal 1979 The Postmodern Condition, and not, in fact, because they can’t afford to feed themselves.
"Have we become a country that just can't get on with stuff?
Stig Abell argues that postmodernism is to blame for public dissatisfaction with the government.
Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East, profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest. But no gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families. No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.
I’m grateful to @RoyLilley for writing on the chaos the NHS has faced at the incompetent hands of @wesstreeting
I especially want to draw attention to this. We have a medical system largely run by those who don’t understand Medical Practice.
The results are predictable.
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