mhoyeJun 24

I just saw somebody refer to a human person, like an actual meat-and-bone possessed-of-inalienable-rights-and-inherent-dignity human person, as "agentic".

Bernard Avishai once famously said that the danger of computers is not that they will eventually get as smart as people, but that we will meanwhile agree to meet them halfway, and I think about that every day. Not just in terms of smarts, but dignity, kindness and decency.

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Jun 24
@mhoye @yomimono wait until you find out i go solely by "it/its" (including professionally!) and don't particularly value being called "human"
Show threadmhoye
@whitequark @yomimono I’m happy to address you on whatever terms you prefer, but what I’m talking about is making a practice of the opposite of that.
Jun 24 at 11:30pmWeb
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Jun 24

@mhoye @yomimono right, i should've provided additional context

back when i was writing a document (the glasgow code of conduct) which was addressing a group some of whom would object to being called "human", i went for "agents", as in "those with agency".

to this day i don't have a better term! i realize the "AI" people seem like they have a monopoly on it nowadays, but i'm not ceding it to them

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Jun 24
@mhoye @yomimono (i think my core objection here is that LLMs don't have agency--they're mere tools--so calling _them_ anything remotely like "agentic" is wrong. a cat or a horsefly are more agentic than claude or whatever)
Show threadmhoyeJun 24
@whitequark @yomimono as an aside, I want to tell you that the only things I know that are Glasgow are a Glasgow kiss and a Glasgow Willy wonka experience, so I am ready to believe that a Glasgow code of conduct is necessary and overdue.
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Jun 24
@mhoye @yomimono it's this: https://glasgow-embedded.org/latest/intro.html
Glasgow Interface Explorer

A highly capable and extremely flexible open source multitool for digital electronics

Show threadmhoyeJun 24
@whitequark @yomimono I take back my jokes, that looks awesome. I have a bus pirate here that’s been very useful, and that looks like a whole new level up.
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Jun 24

@mhoye @yomimono thank you ^^

yeah, it's like bus pirate if bus pirate supported every protocol, up to and including gigabit ethernet*

* i'm still developing that. you can use 100BASE-T4 right now though