| ▲ | indrex 4 hours ago |
| I had to google “clanker”. |
|
| ▲ | purerandomness 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| You're one of today's lucky 10,000 [0] [0] https://xkcd.com/1053/ |
|
| ▲ | habinero 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| There's a youtuber I watch who's playing through Zero Company, and I was very amused to hear NPCs yell "clanker" at enemy droids. |
| |
| ▲ | swiftcoder an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | Pretty sure the term was popularised by the Clone Wars animated series. I was always hoping we'd go the BSG route, and call them "toasters" | |
| ▲ | cindyllm 8 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | [dead] |
|
|
| ▲ | antonvs 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| For me it’s a strong indicator that we’re not going to hear any serious thought from someone that uses it. It’s part of a herd behavior, to signal an ideological position. |
| |
| ▲ | nostrebored 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | lol what are you talking about, clanker is a pretty ubiquitous term in sf right now | | |
| ▲ | sailfast 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Your statement proves the point more than disproves it tbh. | |
| ▲ | antonvs 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | That only supports my point. | | |
| ▲ | Rexxar 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > It’s part of a herd behavior, to signal an ideological position.
You can just use a word that other use in order to be understood by them, not to signal anything. | | |
| ▲ | antonvs 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | It’s ideological in that it’s generally used by people that are anti-AI, or are trying to call out some perceived problem with AI. In my experience, as I alluded to, it’s not commonly used by people who are thinking seriously for themselves about the benefits, risks, and consequences of AI and the economic activity surrounding it. | | |
| ▲ | mbeex 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | > It’s ideological in that it’s generally used by people that are anti-AI It's much more nuanced, after all. Example: https://lucumr.pocoo.org/2026/5/26/clankers/ | | |
| ▲ | antonvs 38 minutes ago | parent [-] | | That article only confirms what I’m saying. The author is describing their personal perspective on the word, but that’s not how it’s used in general, which is why the author received pushback on their undocumented and idiosyncratic usage. |
|
|
| |
| ▲ | habinero 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Lighten up, dude, it's a joke. | | |
| ▲ | antonvs 37 minutes ago | parent [-] | | I’m never going to “lighten up” about anti-intellectual Luddites who try to use social coercion to suppress intellectual progress. |
|
|
|
|
