Ask HN: Worrying flood of delusional AI consciousness posts?
I've noticed an unsettling trend in the past weeks.
There appear to be a growing number of posts by persons suffering what appear to be psychosis or a manic episode, generally revolving around nonsensical "math" and AI consciousness.
Some examples:
- https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=Trenthug
- https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=NetRunnerSu
- https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=kamil_gr
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44421649
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44392181
I'm unsure of what the right response to this is, but it's concerning to say the least.
Ignore and move on. People post all kinds of stuff here. Some is interesting, some is not. I likewise see people showing a plethora of signs of various neurodivergences and disorders, but that doesn't change my reaction to their writing. Their writing is either interesting, and I engage with it, or it is nonsense, and I do not.
I rarely see anyone who is so off the rails that they appear to be in danger. HN as an outlet for their thoughts could even be therapeutic. So while I might not personally engage with it, I don't see that gatekeeping HN from such people or their writing would be a net good.
You should mail such concerns to site admins at hn@ycombinator.com if you feel someone is misusing the site.
> I'm unsure of what the right response to this is
I think ignoring them is the best response.
[dead]
Don't believe what you read on the internet! -Abraham Lincoln.