Tom Whyman

@HealthUntoDeath

Philosopher. Hate AI, love my wife and kids, simple as. Email: [email protected]

Gateshead, Northumbria

Joined December 2010

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Pinned
Tom Whyman
@HealthUntoDeath
Aug 26, 2022
On Simpsons as language and ritual. Also the time Chris Bryant thought Tom Usher was threatening to have him beaten to death with hammers because he'd failed to understand a Sideshow Bob meme
FT Weekend Magazine
@FTMag
Aug 26, 2022
‘The Simpsons is not just a TV show. The Simpsons is a language.’ @HealthUntoDeath’s essay, out today on.ft.com/3e1bjb3
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Tom Whyman
@HealthUntoDeath
1h
Not sure about this assessment: I think it's possible to see AI as non-genuinely 'agentic' but also catatrophically misaligned with human interests, for the simple reason that they are tools created by the various idiots and sociopaths who populate Silicon Valley.
Dan Schwarz
@dschwarz26
11h
Reading Dwarkesh's AI civilizations piece and now this from Scott Alexander, it's obvious the big crux for people is whether "agents" are truly "agentic". Anyone who thinks yes - they have goals, they reflect, they make decisions - thinks AI is ridiculously dangerous. Anyone
1
Tom Whyman
@HealthUntoDeath
2h
AI advocates sometimes point out that AI critics can sound like people resisting the invention of paper, the printing press, or even writing itself. I am now fully on board with those previous generations of Luddites. Return to an oral culture now.
Gregory Conti
@GregoryConti19
4h
It is straight-up bad for the world that the written word has become so cheap to produce.
Tom Whyman
@HealthUntoDeath
16h
ChatGPT didn't invent being shit, etc.
S★
@xxyllinn
Aug 30
Every "revolutionary" business idea in the last decade is just: Take something that already exists, remove worker protections, add an app, and call it "disruption." Uber didn't invent taxis. Airbnb didn't invent rentals. They just invented ways to avoid regulations and liability.
Tom Whyman
@HealthUntoDeath
Sep 1
Idk as far as I can tell agentic AIs engage in deception not because they're 'superintelligent' but because, effectively, they 'believe' it's what we want them to do.
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