It’s up to you. There’s a traditional wooden drinking cup called a kuksa that is popular with outdoors types. It’s carved from a solid block of wood. You can buy them, but it’s more “bushcrafty” if you make one yourself. Further, you’re supposed to use only hand tools, no power tools. OTOH, one that you order online was probably milled by a machine. It’s hard to tell them apart though.
I like this comparison. Made me realize that it’s all about human connection.
I think the origin of the handmade cup is what matters here, same with human vs. AI content. Did you make the cup yourself? You’ll have memories and pride attached to the cup. Did someone make it for you? The cup will remind you of that person, it will have meaning because of who it’s from. Content you or someone you care about makes will always “feel” different than something made by a random person online.
If you don’t personally know the people making the cups, would a “handmade” label at the store make it more meaningful than if you knew it was likely made by a machine? It’ll still just be an object that you don’t have a direct human connection with, just like the random content you see online. It might “mean” more to you to know a human created it, but if you can’t tell the difference, it still serves the same purpose. The cup lets you drink. The content entertains you or makes you think, react, respond.
I wonder if part of my instinctual “fuck AI” reaction is a reflection of the imaginary connections my brain thinks it’s making with other humans on the internet. Talking to AI feels meaningless… but, for all I know, you are AI. I’m still taking the time to type this. We may never interact again, I may never know who made that handmade cup I bought from the store.
Are we connecting as humans right now? Or is my monkey brain just experiencing this as “this is a moment where I am communicating and that is good”? Can we subconsciously recognize the difference between “real person” and “imaginary person”, or are our brains just satisfied feeling like they’re communicating with someone?
Go further. Handmade woodwork usually still involves power tools. So is a storebought kuksa handmade with power tools different from one made without them? Again, up to you.
Similarly in Star Wars, Jedi Knights are supposed to make their own light sabers. Same question.
Sorry, not trying to point fingers, but we had an incident involving a mass-spamming LLM-bot yesterday and your account is 1 day old, so this comment is kinda funny is a way.
Haha that is funny, it kinda sucks how reputation has become so important online. I’ve spent my whole life regularly changing accounts, recreating profiles, etc, because it just makes me uncomfortable to have a long digital record of my opinions, thoughts, etc. Last few years I’ve spent more and more time just lurking on forums without accounts because you get accused of being a bot if your account isn’t a few years old! I could easily be an AI responding to your comment, or I could be a person just using AI to reword my thoughts. How much of a difference is there between those? If an AI says “this would be a better way to word that”, but it changes the meaning ever so slightly, is that sentiment still “from a human”? What about when Microsoft word would reword things and correct grammar to make it “more concise” or whatever? Is that the same thing? That was technically a rudimentary form of AI too - artificial intelligence doesn’t mean “talks like a human” despite that being the current public perception. Where do we draw the line? Is it even possible to determine what “counts” as AI at this point, technologically speaking? We don’t even have a solid definition for intelligence, so how can we define an artificial version of it?
This line of thought is fascinating my stoned ass right now holy shit lol
It’s up to you. There’s a traditional wooden drinking cup called a kuksa that is popular with outdoors types. It’s carved from a solid block of wood. You can buy them, but it’s more “bushcrafty” if you make one yourself. Further, you’re supposed to use only hand tools, no power tools. OTOH, one that you order online was probably milled by a machine. It’s hard to tell them apart though.
Is there a philosophical difference? Up to you.
I like this comparison. Made me realize that it’s all about human connection.
I think the origin of the handmade cup is what matters here, same with human vs. AI content. Did you make the cup yourself? You’ll have memories and pride attached to the cup. Did someone make it for you? The cup will remind you of that person, it will have meaning because of who it’s from. Content you or someone you care about makes will always “feel” different than something made by a random person online.
If you don’t personally know the people making the cups, would a “handmade” label at the store make it more meaningful than if you knew it was likely made by a machine? It’ll still just be an object that you don’t have a direct human connection with, just like the random content you see online. It might “mean” more to you to know a human created it, but if you can’t tell the difference, it still serves the same purpose. The cup lets you drink. The content entertains you or makes you think, react, respond.
I wonder if part of my instinctual “fuck AI” reaction is a reflection of the imaginary connections my brain thinks it’s making with other humans on the internet. Talking to AI feels meaningless… but, for all I know, you are AI. I’m still taking the time to type this. We may never interact again, I may never know who made that handmade cup I bought from the store.
Are we connecting as humans right now? Or is my monkey brain just experiencing this as “this is a moment where I am communicating and that is good”? Can we subconsciously recognize the difference between “real person” and “imaginary person”, or are our brains just satisfied feeling like they’re communicating with someone?
Go further. Handmade woodwork usually still involves power tools. So is a storebought kuksa handmade with power tools different from one made without them? Again, up to you.
Similarly in Star Wars, Jedi Knights are supposed to make their own light sabers. Same question.
Sorry, not trying to point fingers, but we had an incident involving a mass-spamming LLM-bot yesterday and your account is 1 day old, so this comment is kinda funny is a way.
Yeah, I have no way to tell if you are real lol.
I mean, obviously I am real…
Or am I?
vsauce theme intensifies
Haha that is funny, it kinda sucks how reputation has become so important online. I’ve spent my whole life regularly changing accounts, recreating profiles, etc, because it just makes me uncomfortable to have a long digital record of my opinions, thoughts, etc. Last few years I’ve spent more and more time just lurking on forums without accounts because you get accused of being a bot if your account isn’t a few years old! I could easily be an AI responding to your comment, or I could be a person just using AI to reword my thoughts. How much of a difference is there between those? If an AI says “this would be a better way to word that”, but it changes the meaning ever so slightly, is that sentiment still “from a human”? What about when Microsoft word would reword things and correct grammar to make it “more concise” or whatever? Is that the same thing? That was technically a rudimentary form of AI too - artificial intelligence doesn’t mean “talks like a human” despite that being the current public perception. Where do we draw the line? Is it even possible to determine what “counts” as AI at this point, technologically speaking? We don’t even have a solid definition for intelligence, so how can we define an artificial version of it?
This line of thought is fascinating my stoned ass right now holy shit lol