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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 8, 2024

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A top-level post from a new account with 4 reports so far?

And all of them for being an "Actually A Quality Contribution?*

Worry not my friend, the waters are warm and congenial, just don't wonder about how much of it is piss. Certainly that's a remarkable entrance for a new account, and I'm doubly glad that it covers a pet topic of mine.

*Conflict of interest: One of the 4 AAQC reports was from me.

Wow, now I wish I could see what reports people (especially me) have had.

The hidden benefits of modship, I suppose.

I'll let you in on a secret, some rather important aspects of the moderation system are broken haha, at least on my platform of choice. Zorba is working on it when he doesn't have a family to feed.

I don't think I have any any way to see all the reports anyone has received, nor do I recall reports on my own comments showing up in the mod queue.

About 80% of the reports made are by a bunch of people who think that it's a perfectly cromulent substitute for downvoting, especially if it's someone they dislike. I can see why the initial volunteer Janny system was implemented now, before the current doubling of active mod count, the mod queue was a nightmare to handle. I still mildly wish there was a way to just ban people from making reports, some of them really don't get what it's for.

Being a mod is actually quote cool, almost enough to warrant the aneurysms and rules-lawyering. There's a lot of watching the sausage being made, and while I'm still an obligate carnivore, my empathy for the odd moderation decision I have disagreed with in the past has increased by about a hundred times.

I still mildly wish there was a way to just ban people from making reports, some of them really don't get what it's for.

Can't you just implement something that if someone's reports get shot down by volunteer report checking often and consistently enough, the guy gets either a timeout or his 'report' counts for less ?

Can we? My limited knowledge of programming says yes.

Is that likely to happen soon, with the existing backlog of feature requests, bugs and other issues? Probably not, though I wouldn't say no to such creature comforts!

It is only a mild annoyance as far as I'm concerned, so I'm just minging about it rather than drawing it up as an urgent problem to fix.

Shit, senpai(s) noticed me, thanks for the warm welcome! LLM-related stuff really is endlessly fascinating even on the surface. I'm a long-time lurker and longer-time reader of SSC/ACX but technically I'm still a (semi-)degenerate who tries to balance his vidya/4chan diet with something actually requiring brain cells or, less charitably, practices physical and mental masturbation alike. Here's hoping some of that ambient INT in the air rubbed off on me, I'll try to keep my posting habits in check.

Don't worry you're doing anything wrong. I don't think LLMs and generative AI can make the porn situation any worse.

Oh man, I used to think this way before I stumbled upon chatbots... let's just say I wish I shared your optimism, thankfully corpos are too sex-averse for now to realize what they're sitting on.

Oh man, I used to think this way before I stumbled upon chatbots..

I mean porn addiction wise, I believe the crucial components are

  • enough content
  • enough variety in each content category to allow overuse.

Ordinary internet already allows that. It's incredible how much content, what quality there is compared to say, 20-25 years ago.

Maybe there's some cadre of guys too stupid to search it out who will get pwned by generative AI porn services , but .. you know, they weren't going to matter anyway.

I tried chatbots and I agree that especially with a good model that's going to be something. Too fucking weird for me to be honest. Plenty of interest in it.

I agree there is a lot of content nowadays, but no amount of content/variety can compete with the pretty much total creative freedom chatbots (and AI tools in general) offer. The obvious advantage is not being corralled into the mainstream (although not for lack of trying, the endemic spread of e.g. "incest" is 100% reflected in chatbots, just look over Chub for a minute) or constrained by cultural norms which porn like all media inevitably caters to. Loli-adjacent things are a straightforward example but it's not just transgressive stuff: many popular fetishes are not even remotely possible in reality, and, as a shameless vanillafag who loves mushy, saccharine lovey-dovey shit that takes hours until the actual action, I've felt sorely underrepresented in regards to porn for a long time. I imagine people whose fetish isn't even possible in reality at all think the same way - the early CAI era was absolutely inundated with size stuff, for instance.

I've tried chatbots, but I just never saw the appeal. But the fact that an AI is on the other end never was a factor, just that communicating sexy things through text never seemed arousing for me. Also, I've never learned to type with one hand. Of course, voiced chatbots with high quality voice acting is likely right around the corner, which would change things significantly.

I did see some ad on Twitter for some virtual AI girlfriend with fake video and everything, so there are definitely corporations who see the great amount of gold that's there to be mined, but I'll say, the current SOTA seems so cringe that it might just snuff out the entire industry before its birth. But then again, the power of horny probably beats the pain of cringe.

I've tried chatbots, but I just never saw the appeal <...> communicating sexy things through text never seemed arousing for me.

I mean, cooming isn't everything they can be used for, and to be honest the novelty wears off pretty fast. I'll have you know they can even be quite educational* at times!

the current SOTA seems so cringe that it might just snuff out the entire industry before its birth

"AI girlfriends" are cringe and fake, I agree. This is not the way, LLMs' innate schizophrenia, sycophancy and adaptability are a much better suit for fictional waifus of some sort instead. I'm genuinely shocked how CAI's massive success, despite being probably the most user-hostile service I've ever seen, is pretty much ignored as a categorical approach - although it's probably because some services honestly try until the inevitable outrage and subsequent crackdown. It's a pattern at this point.

*This poster is not responsible for mental damage incurred from reading the post.

You don't need to convince me of the usefulness of chatbots in general but this was in the context of porn and LLMs. I've used ChatGPT to roleplay like that while teaching me things, but it never occurred to me to make that role a particular sexual activity, though.

"AI girlfriends" are cringe and fake, I agree. This is not the way, LLMs' innate schizophrenia, sycophancy and adaptability are a much better suit for fictional waifus of some sort instead.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I thought I had a good grasp at what a waifu was from actual direct experience, and I thought "fictional waifu" and "AI girlfriends" were synonyms. What do you see as different about fictional waifus that would reduce the cringe?

I thought "fictional waifu" and "AI girlfriends" were synonyms

They kind of are, but in my mind they're different in that "AI girlfriend" is something like a personalized customizable assistant, Replika-style (usually complete with these cringe-inducing 3d models), and "fictional waifus" is the chub approach focused on RP with many different "characters". Crucially, with the former it seems more natural to act as yourself, a thought at which I honestly shudder; with the latter you're not limited to the sack of meat you inhabit and can freely act as anyone you want and indulge in the dumbest chuunibyou shit (which the AI will eagerly play along with), which for me is the main draw of chatbots in general.

It's like actual (E)RPing but without having to interact with other people, which considering the cringe potential inherent in the activity can only be an upside.

I don't think LLMs and generative AI can make the porn situation any worse.

I feel like the third inescapable fact of life after death and taxes is that there is no situation so bad that it couldn't get worse.

It is good to have company in LLM-poasting! I find it quite bemusing that people find anything more important, be it for Culture War reasons or otherwise, than the arrival of human level and alien intelligences on this globe, and especially with the implications for when they become smarter than us. Certainly your essay on the topic is sufficiently related to Culture War (and excellent commentary) that I doubt even the most curmudgeonly skeptics will ding it for irrelevance.

In terms of the behavior of a new-ish user (even having been a lurker), I honestly couldn't ask more of you. We get all kinds in these parts, from prim church ladies to dramatards and 4channers, but the majority of us somehow get along, which is an honest miracle in my opinion. Well, there are angels moderators with sniper rifles on the rooftops, so maybe it's not that surprising haha.

Welcome, and I look forward to your future contributions!