What's self-hating about acknowledging a fact? There's literally nothing a human can do that can't be done by another entity/group with even near-equivalent intelligence, alien or artificial.

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deiptx a day ago | parent | next [-]

How often do you say that to your wife?

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skeledrew a day ago | parent [-]

You're - deliberately? - confusing scope. There's the objective and the subjective. Humans not being objectively special doesn't mean one human can't be considered special by another. And if my wife doesn't get that distinction, well... I'd probably question my choice in partner.

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deiptx a day ago | parent [-]

Nobody claims we are objectively special, whatever would that even mean. Person said they feel awful which is clearly subjective and you proceeded to bash him for that. You are on hackernews, we are aware we are atoms.

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skeledrew a day ago | parent [-]

Person made a claim about intelligence becoming a product (arguably it has been on the market for a long time; see knowledge workers) "that you can [now] quantify and buy with electricity". That points to the rhetoric often pushed that humans are [objectively] special, because intelligence. Or at least were. And it's the reality wakeup call that's driving that feeling of awfulness/despair/outrage/whatever else, as has been posted about here and elsewhere multiple times.

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deiptx a day ago | parent [-]

This is a problem of wealth distribution and it's fair to feel in a such way if your edge as an employee is being taken away. Being or feeling special is irrelevant.

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skeledrew a day ago | parent [-]

You're shifting. Nothing was said here about job security. As stated, this is someone who feels awful because intelligence is now a thing that's available to machines. A similar - albeit lighter - tone to this[0], where in the article the author describes being in some "spiritual crisis", and that "The creation (or even the pursuit) of novel mathematics is one way that humans have historically accessed the ineffable and encountered the divine and mystical". Have a look at some of the comments, if you never saw it before.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49048681

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deiptx a day ago | parent [-]

This is a 2 months old thread and written by someone else. It only shows you like putting others down.

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skeledrew a day ago | parent [-]

If someone believes deeply that they can fly if they jump off a cliff and flap their arms, is it putting them down to tell them it's fiction and things will end badly if they try?

	▲	deiptx 18 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I hardly see any mortal danger here in a way you do. If you really want to help try making your comments sound less aggressive. Now it seems as if you are jumping out of a bush and beating people up with a club because you think they are headed for the cliff. You must have already noticed what are you trying to say is rarely taken at a face value because of that.

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suddenlybananas a day ago | parent | prev [-]

We don't even know if that is true, and even if it were true, that doesn't mean that humans aren't special. We don't have to devalue ourselves. Our values can and should be 100% anthropocentric in my view.

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skeledrew a day ago | parent [-]

It's interesting that you think that acknowledging we aren't special means we're devaluing ourselves.

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suddenlybananas a day ago | parent [-]

I don't really see how going from humans are special to humans aren't special is anything but a devaluing.

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skeledrew a day ago | parent [-]

Humans value each other, through the myriad forms of relationships we - strive to - maintain. They may change, but they'll never completely disappear, no matter what. There's just nothing objectively special about any of it, as other organisms also - can - have relationships. Same for the things we do: it can all be done by some non-human entity, be it another organic specie, alien or machine. Become comfortable with the facts as your mental stability likely depends on it now more than ever.

	▲	suddenlybananas 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm talking about the value of humans qua humanity, not the individual people that I value. I think you're being willfully obtuse.