Post by @Artisian@lemmy.world

2026-10-02 17:48 UTC

As a Techie and engineer who studies why ML methods work, said Techies and engineers understand what they’ve created and why it works much less than we understand, say, human biology. We don’t know what we’ve programmed it to do; if it is at all possible for a bunch of simplified neurons to experience pain, we have no idea if we’ve implemented that or not. (Common misconception btw! electrons barely move when you turn on the circuit, and certainly don’t disappear. On average they vibrate a fraction of a cm (link ). The electrons are all still there when you turn it off (otherwise suddenly the copper cable would be able to react with a bunch of stuff! This would be bad). See alternating current).)

Replies (1)

@NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 2026-10-02 18:09

I’m aware of how electrons work, the personification of “happily” and “running” were intentional, and I never said they disappear. No need for correction. (I just like using the terms “angry pixies” and “blue smoke” because I work in the industry.) You say “we don’t know what we programmed it to do” as if the <10 tech companies that built it did so with no knowledge of what they were doing. We know what it does, because we can see what it is used for- mass surveillance, misinformation, deepfakes (of every horrifying kind your brain can conjure, now entirely legal thanks to ol muskrat not wanting to go to forever jail for building a robot that generates csam out of your family photos), propaganda, psyops, mass psychosis, and don’t forget the kicker; irrefutable crimes against humanity. Finally the LLM they’re “torturing” with this code is 8GB. Do you think something thats less than 10% the size of GTA5 is capable of feeling pain?

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