Curated. Among the Lightcone team, we say “shoggoth” rather than “LLM”. I asked shoggoth, shoggoth said, shoggoth did. It means one can elide which particular model one used, and we keep in mind that we are working with alien entities we don’t fundamentally understand or trust. Contrast with “I asked Claude”, which I think shapes one’s thoughts towards a much more anthropomorphic LLM conception and relation.
Given that, the history of the shoggoth meme is quite interesting to me. Crazy that it started how it did, but makes sense. I appreciate the scholarship of the author, and the evocativeness conveyed from Lovecraft’s works. I appreciate seeing that the original source has more richness, and appropriate richness to our situation.
The text implies that they lacked the capacity for rational self-interest, that their war against the Old Ones was closer to the malfunction of a miscalibrated machine than any conscious act of rebellion.[3]
Curated. Among the Lightcone team, we say “shoggoth” rather than “LLM”. I asked shoggoth, shoggoth said, shoggoth did. It means one can elide which particular model one used, and we keep in mind that we are working with alien entities we don’t fundamentally understand or trust. Contrast with “I asked Claude”, which I think shapes one’s thoughts towards a much more anthropomorphic LLM conception and relation.
Given that, the history of the shoggoth meme is quite interesting to me. Crazy that it started how it did, but makes sense. I appreciate the scholarship of the author, and the evocativeness conveyed from Lovecraft’s works. I appreciate seeing that the original source has more richness, and appropriate richness to our situation.
Kudos!