With regard to autism, perhaps the best example of "it's not a bug, it's a feature" type thinking is the following piece coauthored by Dr Tony Attwood. Some of the language is antiquated, but it is very positive and insightful. Dr. Atwood recently announced he is autistic himself.
/End
Or how about this classic of unethical research, which even many autistics still seem to believe: "Autistic people lack empathy."
Humans are primates. Primates are highly social creatures. Empathy is essential for this. This statement means, "Autistics are less human than allistics."
/3
"Researchers found that autistic people are much more rigid about their ethics than allistics"?
Hmm, that sure sounds like a propagandistic way to say, "This allistic researcher thinks it's perfectly okay to excuse hypocrisy, because watching people act consistently ethical hurts his ego"
/2
Pro psychology / neurodivergence tip:
"It's not a bug, it's a feature" is a phrase that most people seem to understand, and great for reframing DSM characteristics and other biased research on various "disorders".
"Magical thinking"? More like "patient is spiritual; therapist is materialist"/1
A corollary:
For every guy who does this, is probably another guy who is turned on by having sex with someone who looks underage. That's the real point I was trying to make.
Unpopular opinion:
Gay men who shave off all their body hair, and who aren't actual competitive swimmers, should not be surprised when straight people can't tell the difference between us and pedophiles.
Their lifestyle is inherently based on a pedophilic body standard.
I said what I said.
It sure would be a shame if someone were to use this information to do something that might regret one day...
If you enjoyed Amy Madigan's performance as Aunt Gladys in Weapons, you owe it to yourself to watch her as Iris Crowe in Carnivále.
What do you call a giant lizard who's an expert on a topic?
.
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
........
.........
A connoisaur.
Do the world a favor:
Talk to a racist about hybrid vigor today.
It's one of my favorite games. I win when one of them realizes nature literally favors multi-racial people, and then starts stammering / ranting / foaming at the mouth while their tiny brain short-circuits.
New business cards arrived in time for ConVocation ♥️
Utterly unacceptable in a democracy. In a sane world, House Republicans would be drafting impeachment articles today and Senate Republicans would be preparing for a trial to convict and remove him from office
Thank you, that's helpful to know. My main exposure to this idea is from the book Blindsight by Peter Watts, in which he uses it to great effect. But of course that book is fiction.
Fun fact:
Whenever I see the phrase "Lock the taskbar" on a Windows computer, I think of the song Rock the Casbah.
Now you will too. 😜
Relatedly, I have been comparing LLMs with the so-called Chinese Room hypothesis. We should probably be grateful to them for proving that a non-sentient system can pass a Turing test, as long as the human conducting it lacks the technical expertise to know better.
What really scares me lately is how many people don't seem to care when I tell them that LLMS are not artificially intelligent, do not understand language, and are not capable of reasoning. They think "but I find it helpful!" is somehow a rebuttal to those concerns. I guess they choose dementia.
Looks like a spiritual successor to Once Bitten.
What really scares me lately is how many people don't seem to care when I tell them that LLMS are not artificially intelligent, do not understand language, and are not capable of reasoning. They think "but I find it helpful!" is somehow a rebuttal to those concerns. I guess they choose dementia.
I'm interested, and always happy to collaborate with other alchemists. I just haven't had the opportunity very many times.
Wow, I'm so shocked that when you let a computer think for you, you get worse at thinking. #ButlerianJihad
this was almost the plot of the first season of Stargirl
that’s because pets *are* family members, if you’re treating them right. they love us and depend on us.
I'm looking to sell my Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Wifi tablet w / 12GB RAM & 256GB storage. It comes with 6 cases, three of which have keyboards.
Full details are on the below listing on Swappa.
I would sell it to someone in the Pittsburgh area for $550, since you'd be saving me on fees & shipping.
An email from Martin Peterson to university administrators.
Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).
Collectivism is the reason why we have advanced technology, along with things like roads and fire departments. If the very word triggers you, you are probably an idiot. Primates are social creatures. Best to get over it now.
"it's" is a very unfortunate typo here
No, but seriously...
Why does conjugating a Spanish verb end up sounding like a list of Final Fantasy spells?
Wrong answers only.
This holiday season, beware of that most devious of great old ones, Mariah Carey. Should you hear her voice on the radio, it may well drive you mad.
#IaIaMariahFtaghn #WrathOfMariah
Steve Berman's Fallen Area stories also come close, especially if you are also into gay romance