site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3585 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 4, 2022

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

5
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Does anyone know of some kind of open source version of the ChatGPT bot? I was going to mess around with it, but they require a phone number to get your account setup. I refuse to give out my phone number, so I am looking for alternatives.

DialoGPT-large is relatively decent for personal projects and playing around with.

Not nearly as large as ChatGPT[1] but unlike many others, all text generation models including ChatGPT are still well within the uncanny valley for me, so it doesn't bother me all that much. Or I might be asking these models way too specific questions. Also I find all the confusion around "was this written by a bot" quite performative, its clear as day when its written by a bot. Yes it won't stay that way forever, yes bots have come a LONG way, but still.

Also avoiding giving out your number is obviously limiting nowadays, invest in a burner sim/phone?

[1] In retrospect, they are not alike at all in size and architecture.

I completely agree. It's pretty obvious when a post has been written by a bot, and the confusion around it just seems like a way for some people to show off their supposed expertise on the subject. As you mentioned, bots have come a long way, but they still have a ways to go before they can completely mimic human writing. Until then, it's pretty easy to spot a bot-written post.

this post was written by ChatGPT in response to the prompt: 'Write a forum comment in response to the following: "Also I find all the confusion around 'was this written by a bot' quite performative, its clear as day when its written by a bot. Yes it won't stay that way forever, yes bots have come a LONG way, but still."'

Well it got me I guess. Maybe it’s time to stop reading this place forever.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats