Some very insightful comments in this thread i.m.o.

"It's classic Skinnerian operant conditioning with intermittent (variable rate) rewards. You want whatever it's outputting to be good (code, text, image, etc). Sometimes it isn't but sometimes it is, and you can't usually understand why. When it is good, you experience the reward. The fact that the reward is intermittent and inscrutable makes the desire to repeat the behavior extremely strong."

"Normally an intermittent reward is a sign of a skill that one can master. ... It makes sense that as a species for which tool use is so fundamental that we'd be especially prone to this. ... But we really aren't prepared for when the thing can't be mastered, where it's fundamentally unreliable."

"the slot machine cycle... if I can just figure out exactly how to word this prompt..."

"It feels so overwhelmingly good to some % of people they don't even bother to measure if their AI stuff is actually doing anything useful, because of course it must be, because the feeling is so strong."

https://merveilles.town/@cancel/114881961927585201

#LLMs #addiction #Skinner #behaviourism #OperantConditioning #VariableReinforcement

Behavior Reinforcement Explained: Boosting Habits and Motivation

#BehaviorReinforcement #Psychology #HabitFormation #Dopamine #Skinner #ClassicalConditioning #OperantConditioning #SocialMedia #Neuroscience #BehaviorScience #Motivation #Neurotechnology #SocialInfluence #Education #MentalHealth #BehaviorChange

https://youtube.com/shorts/3GJk5VrVk3Y?feature=share

Can anyone confirm this is true? I don't have a #TikTok account. We know that selectively ranking and recommending topics, videos and posts in other apps is quite powerful.

Creepy AF, if you ask me. More evidence for my whack job conspiracy theory that all of social media is a giant #SkinnerBox designed to drive us all crazy.

#operantconditioning

https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/s/H3pWbQl1Ze

@Hey_Beth "Resistors".

They love all the corporate psyops conditioning that hijacks their mesocorticolimbic circuits.

See: the BlueSky methadone clinic.

Its a science and art engineered to capture them.

They are functionally addicts.

Rats pushing levers to release cocaine.

Other than that I'm sure they are trustworthy , well rounded company to keep.

#Neuroscience #SocialMedia #OperantConditioning #ClassicalConditioning

Long ago I setup a "mail-room" by using my secure back entrance as a place for packages to be left. 90% of the delivery people for Fedex, UPS, and Amazon use it properly and follow the provided instructions.

I've decided that those that do should be rewarded for their good behaviors! #operantconditioning #behaviorism #bfskinner

Also it is just #kind and fits with my belief in #karma

Hypnosis audio files enhanced with Haptic Audio Tracks: A Primer.

Everyone knows about #hypnosis files-- files you can get online or files made by your partner to put you under and do sexy #hypno shenanigans. But do you know about haptic audio tracks?

The basic idea is that you have a vibrator play in time with the audio track. Maybe the vibrator increases in intensity during certain triggers. Maybe the vibrator increases to emphasize certain effects in the files.

I've been doing #erotichypnosis for over 15 years. For me, adding haptics makes hypno files scarily effective, to the point where I feel I need to build up more subject agency to use them safely. Adding haptics greatly enhances the effects of the files. It feels a bit like #operantconditioning or #clickertraining where I can feel myself absorbing the instructions involuntarily. Be forewarned, build strong #subjectagency before trying this. If you're still interested though, read on...

"This is the commercial pressure that turned the esoteric web into the generic web of sensationalism, clickbait and cute animals. It didn't just transform what writers wrote – it also transformed how writers and readers related to one another."
#moneychangeseverything
#notjustauthors #metricsfetish #analyticsfetish #operantconditioning #pavlov #skinnerbox #whygotomars #beyournaturalself

https://doctorow.medium.com/so-youve-decided-to-unfollow-me-7452c96b4772

Rats Learn to Play DOOM in This Automated VR Arena

When we run an article with "DOOM" in the title, it's typically another example of getting the venerable game running on some minimalist platform. This DOOM-based VR rig for rats, though, is less about hacking DOOM, and more about hacking the rats.

What started as a side project for [Viktor Tóth] has evolved into quite a complex apparatus. At the center of the rig is an omnidirectional treadmill comprised of a polystyrene ball about the size of a bowling ball. The ball is free to rotate, with sensors detecting rotation in two axes -- it's basically a big electromechanical mouse upside down. The rat rides at the top of the ball, wearing a harness to keep it from slipping off. A large curved monitor sits right in front of the rat to display the virtual environment, which is a custom DOOM map.

With the VR rig built, [Viktor] worked on automating the training. A treat dispenser provides the proper motivation, while powered drive wheels engage with the ball to nudge the rat if it gets stuck in the virtual world. [Viktor] says he has trained three rats -- [Romero], [Carmack], and [Tom] -- to walk down a straight hallway using this automated method. As for the meat of the game -- shooting monsters -- [Viktor] has that covered too, with a sensor that detects when a rat rears up on its hind legs to register a shot.

Total training time to get the rats to the point seen in the video was about six weeks, and [Viktor] reports the whole thing cost him about $2000. That's a lot of time and money, but the results are pretty interesting. If you're more interested in minimalist DOOM builds, we understand -- check out DOOM on a lightbulb, or a thermostat, or even a GPS.

[via IGN]

Thanks to [my son Tom] for the tip!

#games #doom #omnidirectional #operantconditioning #rat #rodent #treadmill #vr #willitdoom