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myrmepropagandist @futurebird@sauropods.win
3mo
Alan Turing was a visionary. Super-perceptive computer scientist and it annoys me to no end that what he's most famous for outside of computer science is the "Turing Test."

He gave one of the first and most succinct accounts of how a computer should work and they still work that way to this very hour as I type.

Talk about Turing Machines more and Turing Tests less.
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Irenes (many) @ireneista@irenes.space
3mo
@futurebird Alan, but yes. There are so many amazing things he should be celebrated for.
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myrmepropagandist @futurebird@sauropods.win
3mo
@ireneista

One thing I like about Turing is most of what he speculates about works like a recipe. There is never any part of it that's so vague that you can't really try it.
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Irenes (many) @ireneista@irenes.space
3mo
@futurebird absolutely. it was a very specific type of detail-oriented thinking that has been really important in computer science ever since.
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myrmepropagandist @futurebird@sauropods.win
3mo
@ireneista

The problem with developing a "test for consciousness" is we do not have a definition for what it is that would allow such a test to work with other people who we can presume to be conscious (if consciousness can be well defined)

I think we should retreat to simpler questions. Here is one:

Is it possible for pain and suffering to
exist without consciousness?
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myrmepropagandist @futurebird@sauropods.win
3mo
@ireneista

All of this handwringing about consciousness ultimately about morality. Should you feel bad about crushing a bug? How bad should you feel?

Destroying beautiful things, destroying complex things, especially complex things that you don't understand strikes me as significant.

It's why you feel something when you see a mandala erased from the sand. It's why that erasure is incorporated into the tradition.

Sweeping the floor is not the same if there is a mandala.
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Irenes (many) @ireneista@irenes.space
3mo
@futurebird our deepest sympathies on your autocorrect (it took us a sec but we figured out what you meant), that looks frustrating

yeah, if you'd asked us at any point in the first 40 years of our life we'd have said the Turing test was clear and obvious and would someday help us sort through these thorny questions

(we were intense kids)
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myrmepropagandist @futurebird@sauropods.win
3mo
@ireneista

Given how English spelling "works" both of these words could be pronounced to be either one as far as I'm concerned.

conciseness
consciousness

What a nightmare and thanks.
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walnut 🌱 @walnut@thesoftestpaws.net
3mo
@futurebird @ireneista
You will not be able to convince me there is a good reason why "maintain" and "maintenance" are the way they are. Every time I have to use either I need to correct it
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Irenes (many) @ireneista@irenes.space
3mo
@walnut @futurebird "We build our computers the way we build our cities - over time, without a plan, on top of ruins." -- Ellen Ullman.

add "languages" to the list of things humans build that way.
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walnut 🌱 @walnut@thesoftestpaws.net
3mo
@ireneista @futurebird
And in all three people dream of what could be done if we started from a clean slate, only to make old mistakes, or more exciting, discover brand new mistakes and tradeoffs :)
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Irenes (many) @ireneista@irenes.space
3mo
@walnut @futurebird we've recently linked you to our piece about that, we think
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walnut 🌱 @walnut@thesoftestpaws.net
3mo
@ireneista @futurebird
I'm not sure if I remember that specifically if you had, sorry. But it does feel like a sentiment I'd have seen from you :3
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walnut 🌱 @walnut@thesoftestpaws.net
3mo
@ireneista @futurebird
I do remember your piece about "what if we wrote everything in the one good language"
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walnut 🌱 @walnut@thesoftestpaws.net
3mo
@ireneista
hmm, seems my rss reader (miniflux) is having trouble getting entries from irenes.space/leaves.atom . It didn't used to
Screenshot of miniflux Feed: Leaves Given to the Wind There are no entries for this feed.
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Irenes (many) @ireneista@irenes.space
3mo
@walnut oh sorry, it must be getting caught in the rate limiting... we need to change how that's set up. leave it for five minutes and try again and it'll work
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walnut 🌱 @walnut@thesoftestpaws.net
3mo
@ireneista
Oh shoot, meant to update you earlier. You're not the only feed with this problem, and it's a fairly significant amount so I think it is miniflux
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