the reason people confuse AI hallucinations and textual bullshit generation for consciousness is perception is mostly hallucination and thought is mostly imitation.

it's not that AI is alive, it's that we are more autonomic than we realize.

text from an LLM is no more or less meaningful than a video like this.

like, yeah, that's a mushroom turning into a tree. that's a beautiful lady turning into a skullfaced demon.

(like, a beautiful skullfaced demon)

what part of the meaning is there and what part is missing? what part is in the content and what in the context?

what meaning is brought by the perceiver, inferred or projected? LLMs are uncanny because they can bullshit you. they can sound like they have something to say.

but there's that moment when the mask slips and your social primate mind recognizes it is being deceived, that it is facing a zombie.

but then, we meet people like that all the time.

we are people like that a lot of the time. running on habit, autopilot.

which, I want to be clear about this, is OK. it's not always a disaster to be only partially intentional, present.

but there are times when is is of absolutely critical importance that you be awake, alive, present, human

cultivate a habit of recognizing these moments. apply your aesthetics, your morality, your ethics at these points

examine the effects of acting according to your aesthetic judgment -- what happens in the real world because of how you act.

let these effects inform your ethics, morality, aesthetics.

be open to discovering new forms of beauty. be open to discovering new ways you have been fucking up.

above all, be good company