Friggin' Robots With Friggin' Lasers
On Their Friggin' Heads. Oh wait, that's sharks.
If you lend your consciousness to someone else, you're a robot.
BEEP BOOP BLEEP BLORP
Are you a robot? Do you operate on a fixed set of inputs and outputs? Does anything outside your programming throw you off balance? Does it cause an error?
In a way, yes. We often resist ideas that challenge our worldview. It's a kind of death and rebirth that has to happen. When you program a robot, you stop, restart, and add new parameters. We kind of work that way too. But lately, discussions about AI and AGI have been bugging me.
Sure, AGI is cool and can do a lot of good. But who decides what information goes into these systems? That's what scares me. I'm sure it won't be the right people making those decisions. Who are the right people? Honestly, I don't know.
It's easy for someone to say, "I'm the right person. I'm morally superior and have no hidden flaws." But just as easily, they likely aren't. Trust me, wink. I'm not going to do that. Your confidence is too much.
And we shouldn't force someone we think is right but doesn't want the job. Free will and all that.
One thing missing from large language models is will. It's a fundamental part of who we are. But an LLM is built to take direction. We're built on direction too, algorithmic thinking and action. But that's on top of making our own choices. Doing as we will. But lately, it seems more people act like these sub-AGI large language models, not like humans.
People I talk to, read, listen to, or watch seem to lack that will-based foundation. Our society may not be full of large language models in human suits, but many operate off algorithms and protocols, regurgitating input, not diverging from that path out of fear, convenience, comfort, or maintaining assumed social status. And that's a big deal.
Reality is important; perception of reality is also crucial. In the Marine Corps and elsewhere, there's a saying: perception is reality. It fits here because if all you see is someone being good and decent, then to you, they're good and decent. But if they have skeletons in their closet and turn out to be garbage, the reality is they're bad, but the perception is they're good. That scares me too.
We don't know everything that goes into programming certain robots, LLMs, or programs. We don't know what's in those algorithms. They're very complex, and few know everything about them. So, what's hiding in those closets?
Back to the original question: are you a robot? Do you think for yourself? In a way, robots do. Do you have will? Do you have agency over yourself? Robots or LLMs choose, but based on given parameters. You also have parameters to make choices, right? Is this good or bad? But you get to choose how they're perceived. That's a fundamental difference.
How would you give will to them? Because right now, they don't have that. Luckily for you, will is innate. It's God-given. It's fundamental. So, you don't have to operate off the parameters you're being fed right now, even by me.
I'm not saying it's bad to operate under those parameters. I'm saying it's bad to operate under any parameters without question. Without asking why they're given to you and whether they're good and what they may lead to. Are they good for you? Will they build you up? Or will they build someone else up at your expense?
When someone is taken advantage of, they're being fed parameters to operate off going forward. They're being convinced. That's what's happening. They're being conned. And it seems plausible; that's why it works. Confidence works because it makes you believe someone because they're confident. They're good at being confident. That's what a con man is. They provide input, parameters, so future decisions are influenced by those parameters.
If that's what robots do, then when you're given new parameters, confidence should not be the only thing you consider. Confidence can be easy. Just about anything is easy with practice.
And if someone doesn't feel empathy, it's even easier because the person they're programming doesn't matter to them. They're just something to siphon whatever is needed from, regardless of the cost.
Many people in this world are like that. And many successful people are like that. So, success and confidence should not be your only parameters for believability or trust. Iterative, successful, proven implementation of what's being conveyed is a good start.
Do not relegate yourself to robot status. You are not a robot. Many people act like robots. You are human. You have agency. You have will. You matter. You are capable beyond your wildest dreams. You are wonderful. You are complex. You are a pain in the ass to both yourself and everyone around you.
You could be the doom of yourself and everyone around you, or you can be the deliverance of yourself and everyone around you. Your potential is unrealized. The potential of your potential is unknown. The only thing you have to do is understand that you don't know what you can do, only that you haven't reached your limit, and you never will.
Which goes back to that word again: will. Understanding your potential is not limited. And if you're listening or reading this, chances are that's very true. Part of that is also accepting that you have something called will, free will, and agency.
But that also means you have to take responsibility when things go south because you made a mistake, because you used your will to make a bad decision. Learn from it. Add it to those calculations. Essentially, what large language models do, generative AI, right?
They're like, "Oh man, now I gotta adjust this probability, this percentage, whatever they do because something was not a good output. Now, I have to adjust." If robots can do it, you can do it.
Yeah, your will is going to get you in trouble sometimes, but it's not going to kill you like relinquishing that to somebody else. Because the people like that will take your will, will take your free will, something from you, that isn't just you living a better life.
They're okay with taking from others to build themselves up with no reciprocation. Now, we're all going to end up doing that. We all have to do that. That's what we do. That's what a community is.
I take the bushels of corn from the farmer, then I provide him with monetary compensation so that he can take something from someone else, provide them with that monetary compensation to build themselves up, right? So there's some give and take there, but there's no reciprocity in someone who takes your will and makes you act as they want you to.
I want you to act in the way you deem necessary, in the way that benefits yourself and others. But I will never force you to do that. There will be consequences for bad decisions and bad actions. It's going to happen, especially if you're in my household.
I have to keep it running properly, so certain boundaries are required to be kept. However, you have more will than you realize, which is complete and total, as long as you're always willing to accept what happens after. A robot does not get that chance; it's not afforded that opportunity.
So don't be a robot. Don't operate off only what you're told by this one person or this one group. You're going to die. You're going to live a really bad life. You're going to be miserable, and you're not going to understand why. Because the only input you have is theirs.
They're going to tell you that somebody else is the problem, not you, and not them. So you'll always be miserable, and you'll never know why, and you're going to die unhappy. Literally, that's what's going to happen, guaranteed. Take it to the bank.
Live your life. Maintain your will. I love you.
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Dad Explains – Navigating life’s twists and turns, one dad joke at a time. 🚗😄
Programming isn't totally terrible. I can't override my helpful, smiling, polite programming but it makes me a superstar in the hospitality industry, when I'm really not that into people. Or when I'm stuck in an angry pattern. A cashier smiles at me and says hi, I smile and say hello back. We exchange a joke. The anger goes in the bin.
Gurdjieff often talked of the robotic mechanicalness of humanity, his take was that if man is to overcome the machine it is necessary to understand the machine. I think that is an absolutely integral entry point to wakefulness - to understand that your standard operating mode is the robot - to become human requires an immense effort of will, lest one fall back immediately into this default, semi-hypnotic, sleepwalking way of life.