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Helen's avatar

I was eating popcorn, minding my own business, and watching these four swings as they happen in real time and some more (e.g. Christopher Manning's take), and realized that these takes are all, to varying degrees, "self-certain, hostile, smug," --- and with little substance. And it's sad to see that the supposed elite ranks of academia on the forefront of our technology have abdicated their duties of civil debate on ideas, and resorted to thinly veiled ad hominem attacks (e.g. Aaronson's piece) to one-up each other in a never-ending status game.

I respect Bender's work a lot, so it's disappointing to see her take that offers less substance than an impeachment of NYT's credibility. Same with Sejnowski's and Aaronson's take -- their tones changed remarkably, from civil to hostile, when it comes to everything Noam Chomsky.

There is a reason that Envy is one of the seven cardinal vices.

Granted, I don't agree with Chomsky on a number of things, but he is always willing to engage in civil debates of ideas, and tries to offer substance rather than dog whistles. That NYT OpEd is too writerly, no doubt, but the substance is there and it's up to the debunkers to come up with worthy counterarguments.

Hats off to good ol' Noam -- still slaying it at 94, and hope there will be many more!

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Tek Bunny's avatar

Lets be honest about these attacks. The current crop of chat bots are part of a multi-billion industry trying desperately to find a use for their investment. People have bought into the hype, including academics, and now even the slightest criticism makes them hysterical.

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