Notices by Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io), page 6

@exchgr @shantini
Oh, this is a very good point to keep in mind

“Push poll” and “framing” both popular in the replies (and spot on), but the winner in my book is…

…wait for it…

“prompt engineering”

@wlf_warren Heh, “prompt engineering” is the best name yet for what this survey is doing!

@shantini Right??? And…the effort has to be nontrivial. Somebody reeeeealllly cares

@shantini
At a certain point I just have to wonder: How do they find harassment targets so fast? Do they not do anything else with their lives?? Are they just…like…cyborg trolls living in underground vats who do not eat or sleep, but just search for harassment targets through the internet cables that go directly into their brains?

@gdinwiddie
All true, and not just students either

@quephird
“be fuzzy, do crimes”

@aarbrk
Yes, Lakoff for sure. Lakoff and…something out of Wittgenstein, probably?

Important detail: it’s not clear that accuracy is a goal of the poll. The group is not actually conducting an academic research project at all; they are a student-run “strategy consulting organization.” Sort of like Model UN but for McKinsey, I take it. Given that, I suppose this malformed poll is functioning exactly as it’s supposed to function, and giving true-to-life experience.

@jenniferplusplus
Yeah, of course you’re correct: the best con artists believe their own con, or are incapable of actual belief altogether — and you’d think I’d know that after all these years of Musk and Trump and blockchain and crap

@jenniferplusplus
Yes, push poll is a relevant thought! The thing I can’t tell is whether the poll authors know they have an agenda, i.e. is the sucker here me or them?

I feel like there’s a classic social science and/or philosophy term for the way a question can circumscribe its possible answers, and thus skew our thinking. What is that? It escapes me. Whatever it’s called, this is a classic example.

You can see the students’ assumption / agenda plain as day: “The only barrier to AI utility is unfamiliarity! Therefore we can help these poor benighted educators by making them familiar with it!”

“People tried it and it sucks” is not a thinkable thought.

Got a survey from a Berkeley student group who are “researching how AI-powered tools can support educators like yourself by improving teaching efficiency and the learning experience,” and started filling it out just out of curiosity…

…but bailed on the survey when I reached this (mandatory) question. The correct answer for me, not present, is “I rarely use it •because• I am very familiar with it.”

@mcc
True story: my college roommate’s dad spent a year at a research station in Antarctica, where various random scientists from all over the world were stationed. They had a hot tub, and would amuse themselves by running straight out of the hot water into the sub-sub-zero temps really fast for a second and then running back inside…

…and that is how the dad has a photo of himself standing outside in the snow in Antarctica with •Wernher von Braun• both completely buck naked.

Some much-needed optimism from @Impossible_PhD — not denial of just how bad the big picture is in #uspol, but a sober-headed assessment of some details that matter. Is she correct? I don’t know, but she sure does have a point.

If you’re feeling any sort of sense of defeat and unalloyed hopelessness, read the thread.

The future is NOT yet written. It never is.
https://hachyderm.io/@Impossible_PhD/113501165138054954

@quephird
Best kind of crimes

@quephird
Truly you are the Imelda Marcos of velvety clothing

@sysadmin1138
Maybe in astronomy terms the image is bad, but as a visual composition I think it’s quite marvelous.

John Stoehr on why Trump is appointing monstrosities to his cabinet:

"Among liberals, the discussion seems to be limited to the absurdities each of these people brings to governance as well as the dangers they pose. 'Yes, shake your head at the seeming absurdity of these picks,' wrote MSNBC’s Jen Psaki. 'But don’t stop there.'"

#Trump #fascism #cruelty
/1

https://www.editorialboard.com/trumps-cabinet-nominees-are-a-sign-of-totalitarian-drift/

and there goes momma, and almost like in Monsterdon, she fucks off into the dark sea of our universe.

the perfect ending for the perfect Steven Spielberg movie.

thank you and good night.

#LizaIsWatching #CloseEncounters #movies