Gosh Darn

Hey there, this is Wark. You can call me Wark. I engage in various shenanigans. 2X

[warkipinetree]

I apologize if you came here expecting Posts. I just admire whatever washes up on my shore and maybe fire off a reply or two

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I have two super secret sideblogs you may be interested in if you know who the person in my banner is. but if you do, you're following them already 💜

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I encourage you to sign my guestbook (send me an ask) if you happen to stumble upon this blog for whatever reason. Did I show up in a funky search? Make a reply that left an impression? Like a post that you're trawling the notes of? Let me know! I'm very curious about which currents swing people by my shore

[warkipinetree]

AWESOME PFP DUDE 👍 SAW U IN THE REPLIES OF A POST AND I WAS LIKE OMG KIZNAIVER ‼️ HELL YEAH MAN

HELL YEAH!!!!

[warkipinetree]

My career aspirations never evolved past, like, my 6-year-old self’s perception of what a professor’s job was like. Real “snake essay due by 2:04!” type shit

[warkipinetree]

i'nm your wife

Hello your wife, how can I help you today?

[warkipinetree]

Can you really say I’m “on Tumblr” if I never post? Probably yeah, but like, in a cool detached way

[warkipinetree]

I try to keep a following list that minimizes overlap and maximizes variety. I want to see all the subgenres and subsubgenres of tumblog intermingled on my dash. It also means that whenever someone references “that post going around” I’m near-guaranteed to have never seen it

[warkipinetree]

[warkipinetree]

Just remember! Every word you say carries with it its baggage of connotations, the sum total of which creates a vivid impression of your supposed being, an impression from which you can never sever yourself 😁

[warkipinetree]

I wonder sometimes if people recognize me from my replies to posts. If I’ve reached enough saturation in certain circles that someone has a little profile in their head on me. I wonder what those mes are like. I hope they’re doing well

[warkipinetree]

Are you familiar with the pressure associated with trying to compose a Post

[warkipinetree]

My ideal social media platform is a virtual house where I can pose myself engaging in various activities and you can press a button wax museum-style and prompt me to Post what I’ve been thinking about lately

[warkipinetree]

I’m writing a book about. Eggs. That come to life and attend a trade school for how to make egg cartons so that eggs can be delivered more safely. It has some tropes in it like that one trope where eggs come to life, also the one where there are lovers who become lovers

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Hey Frank, I’ve been enamoured by the concept of an AI foster parent for a while now - the idea is that certain AIs would be designed with a strong intelligence out of the box, but they would need to spend some time around humans to sort of acclimate to human society. What do you think of this idea? Are there any particular traits you’d like to see in the ideal AI foster parent?

I haven't really thought about this very much, but I like the idea as a concept. One problem is that this seems like a weird thing to do to an intelligent AI, which would end up feeling very confused about the whole thing and probably be a lot less cooperative.

The thing that makes me curious about this idea is that it seems to me like an argument for letting AIs have free rein to shape our cultures as they please, which I tend to be against.

Basically, I worry that some people are imagining an AI-with-an-opinion situation where it does exactly the things that you'd expect, but in doing so, it's subtly manipulating the entire culture it is a part of.

[warkipinetree]

You raise some good points! The way I’m imagining this system working is that specially trained humans would be guardians/caretakers of the AIs in a semi-secluded environment. The AIs could learn about the outside world, but their capacity for interaction would be limited, or at least supervised by the foster parent.

I agree that an intelligent AI might find it weird, especially given how the system sounds a lot like raising children. To me, that’s more a product of how humans generally understand this sort of socialization process as happening in childhood, rather than implying that AIs should be treated as kids. Maybe it’s better to think of it like a homestay, where the AIs are staying with a host family as they learn about human society and culture.

I’m also imagining that multiple AIs would be staying in the same “house” at any given time, so they could talk to each other and get up to some hijinks if they so wish!

[warkipinetree]

Wark is who I am on the internet. there are little bits of Wark scattered throughout these different sites. I like what Wark is doing, even if they're not doing much

[warkipinetree]

Think that there’s some part of me that’s fundamentally scared of other people. How complex and inscrutable and unlimited they/we are. How can I bring myself to interact with them, when infinitely many things can go wrong? Will I even be able to recognize when things start “going wrong”? How do I help my brain not take in the ‘failure data’ and act as if this is representative of all potential interactions, everywhere, for all time? Much to think about.

[warkipinetree]

Most of my intellectual energy these days is being funneled into private-to-semipublic Discord channels and my pursuit of media so niche and so Me that I can't help but be absorbed. Oh and grad school also

[warkipinetree]

Sometimes I think and know that the vast vast majority of human knowledge is out of my grasp and I cannot articulate one simple fact but othertimes I am utterly convinced that I am the only person on this extant planet who has the correct opinion about all topics everywhere. Deep into that latter feeling tonight