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0 pointsbayindirh23d ago0 comments

> Not sure which rhetorical trick is that. The point of the story, as I read it, is the technical insight (and some social implications of it).

Take a simple mechanism which has exceedingly low number of inputs and states and create a narrative around it to convey it as intelligent.

For a toaster, I can rewrite the think as "They're made of metal strips!", pointing out that their thermostat is a bimetal strip, and extrapolate from there.

I can even write one about a ruler, if I can bend it enough, no pun intended.

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coldtea23d ago· 3 in thread

>Take a simple mechanism which has exceedingly low number of inputs and states and create a narrative around it to convey it as intelligent. (...) For a toaster, I can rewrite the think as "They're made of metal strips!", pointing out that their thermostat is a bimetal strip, and extrapolate from there.

Doesn't that miss the whole point?

You could write "They're made of metal strips!". You wouldn't be able to write much else, as toasters don't have showcase in the way of human-level intelligent behavior. Which is the whole point in the meat and weights versions.

At best you could write "They're made of metal strips!" for toasters AND other metallic devices, and use some analogies of features BOTH have in common. But they wouldn't be intelligence related behaviors.

bayindirhOP23d ago

Oh, no. When you add thermal sensing and offsetting ambient temperature, you can add all kind of "seemingly" intelligent features like feeling the emotions of the bread, and creating the perfect toast without hurting the cute little bread slices, making them perfectly blonde while not showing cruelty to them.

They can even adapt to their environment and the characteristics of the bread even with simplest of mechanisms because the text will be overglossing the fact that different types of breads have different thermal characteristics and this will deeply affect the behavior of the metal strips, bordering near a sentient being even more thoughtful and considerate than a human which is rushing through house to catch the bus in the morning.

coldtea23d ago

>Oh, no. When you add thermal sensing and offsetting ambient temperature, you can add all kind of "seemingly" intelligent features like feeling the emotions of the bread, and creating the perfect toast without hurting the cute little bread slices, making them perfectly blonde while not showing cruelty to them.

Yeah, that's called "stretching it beyond any recognition".

You could do that. It will have none of the effectiveness or resonance of the two stories.

maxbond23d ago

Who have you ever heard make a sincere, good faith argument that a toaster is conscious? Who do you imagine would argue against you if you asserted they were mere automata?

If you can't identify anyone, then this analogy doesn't work.

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