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Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale. Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi

by CarVac 2mo ago

Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale. Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.

mikestorrent 2mo ago
At least we're giving out free verification cans
- Chaosvex 2mo ago
  Drink your Mountain Dew verification can to continue.
  - rob74 2mo ago
    Wasn't that Kool-Aid? (yeah, I know that's not sold in cans, and actually it was Flavor-Aid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid#Background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid#Backgrou...)
    - snerbles 2mo ago
      Different meme, about adtech-driven dystopia. See original greentext [0] [0] https://files.catbox.moe/eqg0b2.png https://files.catbox.moe/eqg0b2.png
      - rob74 2mo ago
        Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification!
      - butlike 2mo ago
        That got me good. Hehehe
archagon 2mo ago
For more info, see my blog post titled "Get in the Torment Nexus or get left behind."
- malfist 2mo ago
  If we didn't invent the torment nexus, china would have and they'd make all the money.
NavinF 2mo ago
"one of my favorite conceits is from the novel [redacted] where they spend the entire book talking about the threat of the space hun invader barbarian belters and how backwards but feral they are and then when you finally meet them they're sophisticated egalitarian transhumanists and all the characters you've been following have been living in space north korea, functionally enslaved and living out their lives blithely consuming copium state propaganda the 'torment nexus' is what you'd call heaven if we built it and you weren't in it"
- stavros 2mo ago
  Where's that from?
  - NavinF 2mo ago
    A locked account on twitter. locked = only people who follow him can read his tweets and there's no way to follow until he unlocks. The book is Hyperion.
    - stavros 2mo ago
      Ah, thank you.
arjie 2mo ago
Sci-fi author: in my book I invented the idea of inserting human dna into a bacterium and it killing us all Tech company: by inserting human DNA into a bacterium we can make very good insulin that will help diabetics Online Commenter: this is just like that book where the insulin kills us all! My take on this entire genre: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Story-Logic_Bias https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Story-Logic_Bias And Eliezer Yudkowsky’s more eloquent precursor: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rHBdcHGLJ7KvLJQPk/the-logical-fallacy-of-generalization-from-fictional https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rHBdcHGLJ7KvLJQPk/the-logica...
- SiempreViernes 2mo ago
  [dead]
- Folcon 2mo ago
  The problem I have with this is not that I disagree with it, it's a good observation, it's that it ignores humans are very example biased and we really don't have many good positive examples, there's a dearth of positive / utopian perspective in fiction and it's absence sets the overton window handily I mean the Jetson's is one of the examples that comes to mind when I'm reaching for a positive example of future robots, the Jetsons! A cartoon from the 1960s is in my top 10 examples of "Positive AI / Robot having futures" Having a more positive takes on the future would go a long way to helping people understand what they're place in it might be, we did used to have periods of history where things were more positive, right now we're really lacking that perspective
  - skinfaxi 2mo ago
    That's a very interesting observation. Why do you suppose that is? Naively I suspect that humans can't envision that kind of utopia without some authority keeping it in order, and power is ultimately a corrupting force so the story always plays out the same.
  - sebastiennight 2mo ago
    Off the top of my mind right now: - the kid from the AI movie - the Sentient Intelligence from the Peter F Hamilton books I think there are quite a few positive examples if you dig enough. It's just that (a) none of those examples are being used as the mold for what large tech companies are set to achieve, because (b) none of those examples imply the sort of capital or power-concentration incentive that a capitalist company would look for. If it requires huge capital/power to bring the utopian story into reality and there is no capital/power incentive to do so, these stories will remain on paper. Whereas, if the Torment Nexus story details how its inventors got to rule the world for a millenium, you can see how it's more interesting for a certain type of person to gather the resources to build it if they have/can acquire the relevant skillset.

by CarVac 2mo ago

Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale. Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.

mikestorrent 2mo ago

At least we're giving out free verification cans

Chaosvex 2mo ago
Drink your Mountain Dew verification can to continue.
- rob74 2mo ago
  Wasn't that Kool-Aid? (yeah, I know that's not sold in cans, and actually it was Flavor-Aid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid#Background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid#Backgrou...)
  - snerbles 2mo ago
    Different meme, about adtech-driven dystopia. See original greentext [0] [0] https://files.catbox.moe/eqg0b2.png https://files.catbox.moe/eqg0b2.png
    - rob74 2mo ago
      Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification!
    - butlike 2mo ago
      That got me good. Hehehe

archagon 2mo ago

For more info, see my blog post titled "Get in the Torment Nexus or get left behind."

malfist 2mo ago
If we didn't invent the torment nexus, china would have and they'd make all the money.

NavinF 2mo ago

"one of my favorite conceits is from the novel [redacted] where they spend the entire book talking about the threat of the space hun invader barbarian belters and how backwards but feral they are and then when you finally meet them they're sophisticated egalitarian transhumanists and all the characters you've been following have been living in space north korea, functionally enslaved and living out their lives blithely consuming copium state propaganda the 'torment nexus' is what you'd call heaven if we built it and you weren't in it"

stavros 2mo ago
Where's that from?
- NavinF 2mo ago
  A locked account on twitter. locked = only people who follow him can read his tweets and there's no way to follow until he unlocks. The book is Hyperion.
  - stavros 2mo ago
    Ah, thank you.

arjie 2mo ago

Sci-fi author: in my book I invented the idea of inserting human dna into a bacterium and it killing us all Tech company: by inserting human DNA into a bacterium we can make very good insulin that will help diabetics Online Commenter: this is just like that book where the insulin kills us all! My take on this entire genre: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Story-Logic_Bias https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Story-Logic_Bias And Eliezer Yudkowsky’s more eloquent precursor: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rHBdcHGLJ7KvLJQPk/the-logical-fallacy-of-generalization-from-fictional https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/rHBdcHGLJ7KvLJQPk/the-logica...

SiempreViernes 2mo ago
[dead]
Folcon 2mo ago
The problem I have with this is not that I disagree with it, it's a good observation, it's that it ignores humans are very example biased and we really don't have many good positive examples, there's a dearth of positive / utopian perspective in fiction and it's absence sets the overton window handily I mean the Jetson's is one of the examples that comes to mind when I'm reaching for a positive example of future robots, the Jetsons! A cartoon from the 1960s is in my top 10 examples of "Positive AI / Robot having futures" Having a more positive takes on the future would go a long way to helping people understand what they're place in it might be, we did used to have periods of history where things were more positive, right now we're really lacking that perspective
- skinfaxi 2mo ago
  That's a very interesting observation. Why do you suppose that is? Naively I suspect that humans can't envision that kind of utopia without some authority keeping it in order, and power is ultimately a corrupting force so the story always plays out the same.
- sebastiennight 2mo ago
  Off the top of my mind right now: - the kid from the AI movie - the Sentient Intelligence from the Peter F Hamilton books I think there are quite a few positive examples if you dig enough. It's just that (a) none of those examples are being used as the mold for what large tech companies are set to achieve, because (b) none of those examples imply the sort of capital or power-concentration incentive that a capitalist company would look for. If it requires huge capital/power to bring the utopian story into reality and there is no capital/power incentive to do so, these stories will remain on paper. Whereas, if the Torment Nexus story details how its inventors got to rule the world for a millenium, you can see how it's more interesting for a certain type of person to gather the resources to build it if they have/can acquire the relevant skillset.