Readit NewsI don't understand believing that trans people (or whatever other belief) are a major threat, but I understand getting heavily involved in policies around trans people if one were to somehow believe that trans people are a major threat.
What I don't understand is spending your days shitposting on Twitter about it. I'm not sure if that applies to Adams, but it definitely applies to Musk and Rowling.
> I don't understand believing that trans people (or whatever other belief) are a major threat, but I understand getting heavily involved in policies around trans people if one were to somehow believe that trans people are a major threat.
You are presenting a strawman argument, and then declaring you can't believe that others believe this. The truth is, they don't believe that.
What women like J.K Rowling argue is that women's and girl's rights are harmed by insisting that trans people be treated for all purposes as their declared gender without regard to their birth sex. They argue that women and girls by virtue of their sex need single-sex facilities where males aren't admitted, no matter how that male self-identifies. They argue that treating adolescents expressing gender confusion with puberty blockers and surgery is extremely harmful and morally wrong.
And it's clear from recent surveys and polls that clear majorities in most western countries agree. An example of this is a recent poll in the UK regarding its recent Supreme Court judgement on the interpretation of its Equality Act. [1][2]
Regardless of the position you take on this, nothing is to be gained by not engaging with what others are actually saying and arguing.
[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/supreme-cour...
[2] https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/half-of-labour-...
From the article, about mid-way through:
> But some detractors consider the project misleading. University of Maryland vertebrate paleontologist Thomas Holtz, Jr. pointed out to Live Science, a science news site, how the lab-created skin won't be authentic because there's no actual T. rex skin or DNA to serve as a basis. "What this company is doing seems to be fantasy," he said.
America has been doing this for years. I recall a story from a few years ago about an Irishman refused entry because he'd posted something on social media about how he was going to "destroy LA".
Ah, here it is:
https://www.joe.ie/uncategorized/irish-tourist-banned-from-u...https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/6342775/US-ejects-tourists-ov...
This was back in 2012.
I'm puzzled (but not surprised) by the standard HN resistance & skepticism. Learning something online 5 years ago often involved trawling incorrect, outdated or hostile content and attempting to piece together mental models without the chance to receive immediate feedback on intuition or ask follow up questions. This is leaps and bounds ahead of that experience.
Should we trust the information at face value without verifying from other sources? Of course not, that's part of the learning process. Will some (most?) people rely on it lazily without using it effectively? Certainly, and this technology won't help or hinder them any more than a good old fashioned textbook.
Personally I'm over the moon to be living at a time where we have access to incredible tools like this, and I'm impressed with the speed at which they're improving.
But now, you're wondering if the answer the AI gave you is correct or something it hallucinated. Every time I find myself putting factual questions to AIs, it doesn't take long for it to give me a wrong answer. And inevitably, when one raises this, one is told that the newest, super-duper, just released model addresses this, for the low-low cost of $EYEWATERINGSUM per month.
But worse than this, if you push back on an AI, it will fold faster than a used tissue in a puddle. It won't defend an answer it gave. This isn't a quality that you want in a teacher.
So, while AIs are useful tools in guiding learning, they're not magical, and a healthy dose of scepticism is essential. Arguably, that applies to traditional learning methods too, but that's another story.