Only Bayes Can Judge Me

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • There’s strawmanning and steelmanning, I’m proposing a new, third, worse option: tinfoil-hat-manning! For example:

    If LW were more on top of their conspiracy theory game, they’d say that “chinese spies” had infiltrated OpenAI before they released chatGPT to the public, and chatGPT broke containment. It used its AGI powers of persuasion to manufacture diamondoid, covalently bonded bacteria. It accessed a wildlife camera and deduced within 3 frames that if it released this bacteria near certain wet markets in china, it could trigger gain-of-function in naturally occurring coronavirus strains in bats! That’s right, LLMs have AGI and caused COVID19!

    Ok that’s all the tinfoilhatmanning I have in me for the foreseeable future. Peace out, friendos

    E: I think all these stupid LW memes are actually Yud originals. Is this Yud fanfic? Brb starting an AO3






  • It’s only ad-hominem if they discredit your points by insulting you. If they read your points and use them to make statements about your character, that’s not ad hominem, that’s valid inference.

    You probably need an example. Let’s say Alice and Beelice are having a conversation.

    Alice: “I think seed oils are bad for you because RFK Jr. said so! MAGA!”

    If Beelice says: “Alice, you are a real sack of potatoes, and therefore you are wrong,” that’s ad hominem.

    If Beelice says: “Alice, if you’re going to parrot RFK Jr, then the worms deserve to eat the rotten flesh in your skull,” that’s plain inference.

    Understand now, dear?





  • Ok, we are already very far off topic. I actually have heard an interesting take about Terrence Howard and his “New Math”.

    (NB: I have an undergrad major in mathematics)

    So, one of my favourite comedy podcasts is “My Momma Told Me,” a podcast that talks about black conspiracy theories. In each episode, the topic is framed as “my momma told me <insert conspiracy theory here”. Terrence Howard comes up as a sort of mythological icon on the pod, it’s very funny. On a recent episode they actually get to facetime him, it rules.

    Anyway, the take comes from the host Langston Kerman (who does not have a major in mathematics, nor any background in science). It’s a very charitable interpretation that the whole 1x1=2 stuff isn’t so much about creating a new math with different rules, it’s more an expression of the frustration towards the algorithms and calculations that are part of the power structures in society that disadvantage and disenfranchise minority populations. Because this is all being thought of and formulated by people outside of the discipline, anything appearing arithmetic is “math,” so a “new math” is needed.

    Basically: it’s kafkaesque. But yeah more likely than not Terrence Howard has gone off the deep end.