[ExI] Douglas Hofstadter, LLMs and self-referentiality

[spike at rainier66.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat
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>...Back in the mid-90s when I was at college, I sometimes posted to Usenet from my Computer Science account.  At one point, I found a thread where someone was claiming to be me, but saying things I disagreed with...

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I confess:  I did it.

Well, not really, but when I was in college (a long time before you were Adrian) we used to do crap like that.  Back in those days, only a few students used the computer in any way, and we who did all knew each other.  Back then, seldom could one find a computer user who was unable to recite hours of Monte Python routines by memory, who had not written code at the assembly level, who didn't play Dungeons and Dragons, who had not personally used punch cards (eeeesh) and whose code did not have a harsh FORTRAN accent.  Practical jokes were mandatory to be part of the club.  As far as I know, there was never any malice intended, but hilarity ensued regularly.  Back then, the computer was both a tool and a toy.  Now of course it is primarily a toy.

spike