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Everybody's Lost Their Minds

373 points · 348 comments · ibobev

  1. 8bitsrule · · focus · HN ↗
    I enjoyed this lovely rant by Timnit Gebru today. It's titled something like "AI companies are stoking fears of extinction to avoid discussing actual harms,"

    <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=aCB-NQtsKrs" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=aCB-NQtsKrs

    1. rphv · · focus · HN ↗
      How cynical. What if the fears of extinction are _rational_? Given the stakes, we&#x27;re obligated to treat the threat as a real possibility until proven otherwise.

      People will go to great lengths to avoid believing truths that dramatically challenge their worldviews. Consider the case of Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler, who escaped from Auschwitz and were initially met with disbelief when they described the atrocities they&#x27;d witnessed.

      1. majewsky · · focus · HN ↗
        I agree. AI skeptics are widely met with disbelief when describing the atrocities that LLM operators are inflicting on society right now.
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