2023-03-28
I like having a mix of bullish and bearish thoughts about ChatGPT and large language models. This critique is worth the time.
[ChatGPT] wants to incrementally bring us to the conclusion that “overreliance” is actually convenience, the classic affective alibi for all forms of imposed automation: Why would you want to bother with the effort of thinking? Where is the edge in that? Why struggle internally with how to express yourself when you can instantly produce results? Why struggle to find new kinds of consensus with other people when all the collaboration we need is already built into and guaranteed by the model? What’s more robotic than doing what society tells you to do and being part of a group?
A prediction engine will flatten the discourse toward acceptable mediocrity.
Convenience has also long served as a way to repackage isolation as a treat.
Geesh. Individual microwave meals come to mind on a completely different horizon of technological advancement. How convenient it is to dine alone in perpetuity.