Fi 🏳️‍⚧️

RE: https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116229038416484343

speaking as someone for whom collecting cursed lore is a lifelong special interest - yeah, you don't -engage- with the curses on their own terms; that's a great way to get your head corrupted in ways that are very hard to recover from.

knowing, measuring, and - critically - auditing the effects that psychologically manipulative artifacts have on your psyche is critical if you're going to engage with that shit.

treat it like a psychedelic trip: after you do your journey thru the nine hells, take some time to go outside, touch grass, and reassert your reality, at the very least, and then integrate what you've learned and determine what is and is not consistent with your Self.

Mar 14 at 6:58pmWeb
Show threadFi 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 14

why yes, I do sound like an occult practitioner when I say this.

there is a reason for that.

Show threadFi 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 14

gods know there's no consensus-culture 'sane' way to talk about how to navigate situations when your personal reality is being actively fucked with.

kind of by definition, really. that's the whole point of this helter-skelter horseshit the LLM companies are imposing on people.

Show threadFi 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 14

and it's not even really malicious on their part - at least not in the sense of "intending to cause psychological harm as an end"

this is all downstream of the "we must make the product Engaging so that Line Go Up" capitalist delusions.

Show threadFi 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 14

n.b. I have -deliberately- not used the word "addictive" here, because that word has specific judgemental and moral implications that get in the way of seeing the actual dynamics with clear eyes.

"addictions" are things that serve -a- need for a person, but come with side effects that are unhelpful; the language of 'addiction' obscures the genuine needs being addressed behind moralizing horseshit that is actively counterproductive to getting those needs handled.

finding the need - and finding ways to meet it that are more consistent with the person's life and desires for their life - is an effective way to make the 'addiction' cease; the example I usually use is that every single person I know who has successfully stopped smoking has done so after getting effective medication to treat their ADHD.

Show threadFi 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 14

someone who is using LLMs in a way that is causing them harm is not "addicted"

someone who is using LLMs in a way that is causing them harm has some need or needs that the LLM is at least partially fulfilling, and that they need help in order to discern what those needs are and how to meet them in a healthy way.

this may be complicated. this will be individual. this is likely to be extremely involved and require a great deal of teaching skills around introspection and interoception.

and it definitely requires a great deal of compassion and patience.

Show threadFi 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 14
and no, I'm not going to discuss ways to engage with the cursed artifact and emerge with little scathing on a public channel.
Show threadeclexicMar 14

@munin I like the glib framing of cursed artifact. My DM brain is chugging along now.

As for the needs being left unmet and using an LLM as a surrogate, ya that's how the modern world works. Everything meaningful is to be replaced by empty simulacra, for profit.

Show threadFi 🏳️‍⚧️Mar 15

@theeclecticdyslexic

Doesn't have to be. I was enjoying some extremely fulfilling experiences last night, for example.

Show threadeclexicMar 15

@munin You are correct! I definitely doesn't have to! However, that is the general trend, as backed by the overwhelming majority of capital.

I'm pretty happy with the experiences I have, as I actively seek out fulfilling experiences based on real human connection. However, even I am subject to some of these pressures, as they are ever present. The prime examples in my life being related to motor vehicle ubiquity.

Show threadTabbyMar 14
@munin this is real, I’ve been struggling with this after getting away from an emotionally abusive situation.