Inspired by a recent talk from Richard Stallman.
From Slashdot:
Speaking about AI, Stallman warned that “nowadays, people often use the term artificial intelligence for things that aren’t intelligent at all…” He makes a point of calling large language models “generators” because “They generate text and they don’t understand really what that text means.” (And they also make mistakes “without batting a virtual eyelash. So you can’t trust anything that they generate.”) Stallman says “Every time you call them AI, you are endorsing the claim that they are intelligent and they’re not. So let’s let’s refuse to do that.”
Sometimes I think that even though we are in a “FuckAI” community, we’re still helping the “AI” companies by tacitly agreeing that their LLMs and image generators are in fact “AI” when they’re not. It’s similar to how the people saying “AI will destroy humanity” give an outsized aura to LLMs that they don’t deserve.
Personally I like the term “generators” and will make an effort to use it, but I’m curious to hear everyone else’s thoughts.
Forums aren’t serious business, nothing important ever happens here.
Use forums to learn and be exposed to new ideas, to socialize, to obtain skills, to be informed, but remember that nothing you say on the internet really matters that much. If you aren’t doing this for fun, what’s even the point? You’re just wasting time.
Unrelated but here is list of things I find to be some of the most important activities I can think of:
Idk. The internet is a tool, I guess? I use forums to get my computer problems solved. Help other people with their woes… I talk to random strangers and learn something about their perspective on the world. Or what it’s like in a remote place… Talk about relationship issues. In the old days I’d use them to coordinate activities, projects. Sell used stuff or buy old hardware…
I mean you’re probably right, With social media, a lot of places lost meaning and it’s more memes and random noise. But I’d argue that’s not what the internet is about. Specifically internet forums.
But we’re all free to use them however we like. I’m not the Grinch, having fun is a perfectly valid thing to do, and should be part of the equation 😉
Ultimately I like to think I’m not just confined to armchair activism. I’ll mix online activities, real-world activism. I’ll do projects. Our hacker groups helped avoid Chatcontrol and their online actividies have an impact on people’s lives… Stallman changed the world… It’s a thing people can do if they like.