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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   18958 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 14, 2026

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It seems to me like there is. Generative AI is evil because 1) it's used by capitalists to save money by replacing workers and 2) it specifically replaces creative people.

Well here's a thought experiment:

Suppose you are on a progressive college campus. Which is more likely to provoke a negative reaction from your progressive classmates:

(1) You are known to work for an organization the primary purpose of which is to oppose gay marriage;

(2) You are known to work for an organization the primary purpose of which is to oppose affirmative action and other forms of discrimination against white people; or

(3) You are known to work for an organization which is primarily developing improved LLMs.

It seems pretty clear to me that the first 2 are going to provoke a much more negative reaction.

Or to put it another way, in progressive circles, people are afraid to even suggest the possibility that the police are not in fact biased against blacks; or that trans rights are being abused by fetishists; etc. But if you argue that generative AI will lead to a wonderful future? Not so much.

I don't have close enough knowledge of a progressive college campus that I could tell you if saying that you work for an organization developing LLMs will get you attacked. But it doesn't seem implausible.

I don't have close enough knowledge of a progressive college campus that I could tell you if saying that you work for an organization developing LLMs will get you attacked. But it doesn't seem implausible.

Well, I have heard lots and lots of stories of speakers who were conservative, pro-Israel, etc. coming to college campuses and having their events disrupted. I've never heard of this happening with AI researchers. So I'm just not (yet) seeing this as a culture war issue.

They get booed and jeered

They get booed and jeered

I could see this leading somewhere, but I don't think we are there yet. I was talking about a situation where, for example, Ben Shapiro is hosted on a campus. Not as a graduation speaker but just at some club event. In that case, if it's a progressive-dominated campus, hostile people (who wouldn't otherwise attend) can be expected to seek out and disrupt the event.

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