Imitating desired realities

At work, I am on a project that uses large language models (LLMs), an instance of the modern AI fad that brought us ChatGPT and, relatedly, image generators and suchlike. Personally, I am not into gaming and I don't own computers that have reasonable GPUs, and I have little use for systems that can deliver me results that are rather more plausible than they are trustworthy. My preference remains for the more traditional kind of AI centered on knowledge-based reasoning, though I concede that deep learning boasts some impressive successes.

Now that I am digging into modern AI a little for my day job, it becomes more obvious to me what everybody else probably realized years ago. First, I find myself tempted to use it for inane questions like recommendations from restaurant menus for kinds of people. That would be a lot of pointless computation: with each of us using LLMs for whatever comes to mind, just as we might ask our friends what they think, it sounds about as bad as proof of work for accelerating climate catastrophe.

Secondly, in reviewing various available models it became apparent that uncensored models are readily available, there can be guards and such applied subsequently. Many models are probably trained on all manner of material from the Internet, some of it from the sewer. Perhaps one can buy oneself decent graphics hardware, download uncensored models, then privately indulge whatever interactive fantasies come to mind. This goes back to previous questions on the effect of people being able to play violent video games or watch extreme pornography. Are we approaching a world in which anybody can immerse themselves in the particular virtual depravity of their choosing and, if so, what does that mean for society? I suppose that we will find out.

Dentistry for the faint-hearted

I have receding gums and my teeth are somewhat exposed toward the root. It is with considerable trepidation that I face cleanings from a dental hygienist. One cleaning I had back in Dundee had my teeth still aching for a couple of days afterward.

My present dentist is quite excellent. It was only through unusual luck that I was able to land them as an NHS rather than a private patient. Given my past experiences, what we do is: when a cleaning is due, they do half my mouth in a session: four injections to numb one side, then the cleaning is under local anæsthetic and, so far, after the anæsthetic wears off a few hours later, I remain pain- and ache-free. That, I could get used to.

I wish that I had been born a little later when we could just adjust our bodies to keep on producing teeth, or at least when we could grow clones of our teeth that can be popped in when the current are in poor shape. I remain impressed that our cells organize themselves into the structures of our various teeth.