@jon I do appreciate this perspective as well. Perhaps it’s about finding the right words. I obviously put these thoughts out there to gather how others reason. I’ve been reacting a lot lately to expressions of “good” use disregarding any second or third order thinking.
Not sure I would agree it’s absolutist though, for me it’s about choosing to weigh in impact beyond immediate personal benefits and reasoning around them.
The question of “useful” always for me ends up at needing to understand useful for who, at who’s expense? And from there: is it worth it? Perhaps, for many it, is. A great many people of course have no awareness at all of the harm, in my experience.
I’d also emphasize that I am adressing the modern flavor of generative AI, rather than all the many flavors of machine automation. For translation, transcription and similar applications – within a dominant language – I’d argue that large language models are incredibly useful. For many other applications it’s both deceptive and harmful, even ones where it’s argued they provide value. And so, I have to reason around if the positive applications are worth the many and varied costs, and hence can be considered good applications for the goals they help achieve (goals which likely can be arrived at in many other ways as well).
Clearly I’m concerned when the primary beneficiaries are those who are already well-off, and the sufferers are those who are subjected to exploitation time and time again. Much of the generative AI world amplifies this arrangement. Perhaps it’s unfair of me to judge someone’s experience of useful and good under this light, but I’m having a really hard time accepting those conclusions when they risk exacerbating harm…
I’m going to give this some more thought and work it into some writing on my blog… thanks for offering objection, and sorry about a wall of unfinished pondering - much of how I reasoned was perhaps obvious.
Tagged: Akkoma
@LeoR1010 Älskar den här matchen!
@highvizghilliesuit True. Though I feel for example the exploitation of cheap and underage labor has spun out of control. And general awareness about all these issues is higher. So then it becomes a question of balance, scale, opting for one methodology over another.
"Cool, I found a good use for AI, this tech can really save time!"
If you're arguing that generative AI has both good and bad applications, but your main reasons for finding it positive is that you found some personally useful applications - for example formatting or summarising content - I don't feel you're considering enough what the concepts of good or bad entail.
I'd argue that the definition of good is not that it benefits you at the same time as many others are harmed.
If your personal benefit, formatting content much faster than before, comes at the expense of escalating carbon costs, unregulated child labour in hazardous mines and PTSD amongst AI gig workers, I would argue that calling this feature "good" is a stretch.
The bigger picture is a hassle to consider but I don't see how it could responsibly be ignored.
Lagfinalen i bordtennis är klockan 15. 🏓
@creative_xl8 @hsorlie Thanks. I can also suggest these two posts for more references. It's obviously a bit much for a 5-10 minutes presentation but might provide some new ideas and arguments.
The Elements of AI Ethics
https://axbom.com/aielements/
AI responsibility in a hyped-up world
https://axbom.com/ai-responsibility/
If one ever wants to dig deeper there's also my collection of 3,000+ articles 😅:
https://raindrop.io//digital-ethics-6334413
https://raindrop.io/axbom/digital-ethics-6334413
@datarama I think you’re onto something here. Hygge is an excellent example. One big clue is that essentially all books written on ikigai are written by non-Japanese. All the blogs and youtube video you find will be from non-Japanese people. Because the Japanese haven’t seen any need to write a book about something a word that is used in common language every day to just mention something that you love to do and makes your life worthwhile. There is no deeper philosophy hidden there.
The reason the podcast may be worth listening to is because it’s just interviews with people doing cool things and finding meaning in this. It overlaps with wellbeing and mindfulness, far from having “what you can get paid for” as a prerequisite. 😁
Every time I see someone write about the westernized misrepresentation of Ikigai, I sigh. Because it’s of course been blended up with capitalism and hyperbole to become essentially a sales pitch.
Ikigai, to the Japanese, was never about what you can get paid for. Taking care of your grandkids can also be your Ikigai. The stuff you do after work can be your Ikigai. And it changes over time. To me it feels like western thinking really pollutes a lot of beautiful insight and opportunity.
Also, Ikigai is not a Venn diagram.
To be fair, if that framework is helpful to you and inspires you, by all means use it. But it’s not Ikigai. Catching up with your friends can be.
If you’re curious about what Ikigai means to the Japanese, give The Ikigai Podcast a chance: https://ikigaitribe.com/podcasts/ – It’s a series of interviews with Japanese professors, authors, experts, and people living their ikigai.
@HistoPol Scan done and back in waiting room. Went well. Had a conversation with the CT operator about how the note about my allergy only appears in the database for this hospital and if I go somewhere else they may not have access to this info.
This is sadly the state of healthcare in Sweden, and many other countries of course - that the different IT systems don't talk to each other. There's a lot of things to keep track of and report yourself, some of them life critical.
Like the yellow card for vaccinations I would really like to see a small booklet (or other solution) that a patient can carry with them for all this important info. Obviously there are risks with this as well, but it's design challenge I would be interested in tackling.
@HistoPol Thanks. Yes, I'm meeting with the doctor right after the scan and will bring this up. You're right that many people won't be as confident asking questions and calling attention to discrepancies.
I ask for everything in writing and last time one of the nurses wrote a great text for me detailing everything that would happen to me. Otherwise I would not have known myself… 😬
CT-scan today. The nurse who placed my PICC line also took my blood pressure. When detaching the cuff, the pen she had in her hand pressed against my side and drew a long ink line across my new green shirt. Themselves not noticing I pointed out "you just drew a line on my shirt with your pen". They said "I'm really sorry", packed up the stuff and left.
It felt like a weird interaction. And yes, it also wasn't painless.
Now trying to change perspective and have to assume they were very stressed. Lots of things in the interaction felt rough and rushed which would seem to support this.
Anyway. I doubt it will wash out, which made me a little sad. But also, it's just stuff.
#PatientStories
And now I just had to remind the head nurse that I was supposed to get medicine 30 mins ago to address my previous negative reactions to the contrast fluid.*
They had no note of this, searched, found it and thanked me for reminding them. Feels like many are back from their vacation today.
*Supposed to be administered 2 hours before the scan.
#PatientStories
Three days later. I went to leave a blood sample on Tuesday morning (the day after my CT-scan) per instruction by the doctor. He called today wondering why I hadn't. I said I did.
He then found that the requested test got mixed up with another doctor's requests (one I haven't met). The blood I left on Tuesday was tested for something completely different. So I have to go in again tomorrow and leave yet another blood sample. And my arm is bruised where the needle went in.
Closing in on too many weird mixups for comfort now.
#PatientStories
@davor Thank you Davor! 🫶
I just re-read this post I wrote about the AI hype in March of last year and it's essentially the same things I would write today.
AI is moving so fast it's timeless 😁
You can also listen to this blog post if you want, as it's one of the ones I voiced as a podcast episode. With sound effects! 🔥
https://axbom.com/ai-responsibility/
I just got one of the most beautiful well-wishes, with an account of how they had gotten to know me through first my panda model and then my writing, a great story about their grandma's heart surgery (including the maxim "Getting old is nothing for cowards") and some truly valuable insights about exertion and recovery.
So yes, I am now crying. In a good way.
And for everyone's wellbeing: I can really recommend starting a blog, even if it's just for yourself or a few close friends. ❤️
@elhult Tack Ludvig! 🫶
@Coveh Thank you Anthony. 🫶
@salixsericea Thank you. 🫶