Thread

1. georgemcbay · 1789884732 · focus · HN ↗

   Blows my mind that so many people just have this hardened internalized idea that we're somehow significantly different than any other animal.

   Sure, we've got them beat on language and planning, but we're currently in the process of being passed up on both those fronts by multi-dimensional arrays of floating point numbers sitting inside of sand. So, like, how special is that then, really?

   1. card_zero · 1789885143 · focus · HN ↗

      Do LLMs grieve?

      1. georgemcbay · 1789885394 · focus · HN ↗

         Nope.

         They can pretend to, of course, and use the language of grief, but if you can't feel the cold bottomless pit that has bored through your gut then you aren't really grieving.

         1. card_zero · 1789885766 · focus · HN ↗

            Do whales grieve?

            1. georgemcbay · 1789885932 · focus · HN ↗

               > Do whales grieve?

               Just as much as any human that isn't me, as far as I can tell from all available evidence.

               So, yes, I absolutely believe they grieve, just like I believe humans who aren't me grieve.

               1. nexie · 1789887540 · focus · HN ↗

                  I hope that’s just because you haven’t had a reason to grieve… Either way, hope you are well!

                  1. georgemcbay · 1789889747 · focus · HN ↗

                     > I hope that’s just because you haven’t had a reason to grieve… Either way, hope you are well!

                     Thanks, stranger.

                     I'm old enough that I have experienced significant grief a few times in my life.

                     Given our mortality, we should welcome some degree of situational grief, as grief is the absence of a previous love that we were lucky enough to experience in the first place.

                     Of course, there are also profoundly unfair versions of grief (like the loss of a child) that I wish nobody (or no whale, for that matter) would ever have to experience.

                  2. the_af · 1789898358 · focus · HN ↗

                     "That isn't me" in the above comment means "I know I can grieve, but I can only tell indirectly other people can do so as well."

                     It doesn't mean "I've never felt grief".

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