Whole-known-network
<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@whitequark" class="u-url mention">@<span>whitequark</span></a></span> Maybe put differently, the same kinds of arguments and excuses used to justify A/B testing are now used to justify tweaking LLMs "based on user feedback." OpenAI has even admitted to that recent versions of 4o encouraged people to think of themselves as religious prophets because of how they interpreted user feedback.</p><p>I posit that understanding why A/B testing can both be useful and harmful is itself useful in deflating OpenAI's arguments.</p>
<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@whitequark" class="u-url mention">@<span>whitequark</span></a></span> To wit, I don't think there's an inherent conflict between collaboration and experiment. Indeed, a participant in an ethically designed and conducted experiment is there on purpose, at least nominally because they agree with the goals of the experiment. That strikes me as quite collaborative, which is awesome in my book.</p><p>But also, experimentation is something that can go wrong when done without proper knowledge; I would love for there to be more resources to help.</p>
<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@whitequark" class="u-url mention">@<span>whitequark</span></a></span> To be clear about my intentions as well, no, I'm not trying to be inflammatory nor is any of the above intended to incite anything.</p><p>Rather, I am incensed that AI chatbots and the like are the logical extrema of the kinds of experimentation that have been normalized in the tech industry, and that that extreme has caused significant harm. I posit that being clear about the roots of those ideas is helpful in understanding the extremes.</p>
<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://wandering.shop/@xgranade" class="u-url mention">@<span>xgranade</span></a></span> I think you're framing very broad categories of human *collaboration* as human *experimentation*, possibly as a way to be inflammatory, which I don't appreciate</p>
<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@whitequark" class="u-url mention">@<span>whitequark</span></a></span> There's a lot we understand about human behavior, both at macroscopic and microscopic levels, that comes from experimentation. One-way mirror studies, A/B tests, and pretty much any kind of user testing fall under that, in that you're providing stimuli to a human being and seeing how they respond.</p><p>The understanding we glean as a society as a result of those experiments is immensely valuable. What I'm calling out is doing those kinds of experiments by accident.</p>
<p>Open source evolution sim Thrive adds currents, bioluminescence, additional environmental events and more <a href="https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/05/open-source-evolution-sim-thrive-adds-currents-bioluminescence-additional-environmental-events-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">gamingonlinux.com/2025/05/open</span><span class="invisible">-source-evolution-sim-thrive-adds-currents-bioluminescence-additional-environmental-events-and-more/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Thrive" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Thrive</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Godot" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Godot</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/IndieGame" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>IndieGame</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Linux" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Linux</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Gaming" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Gaming</span></a></p>
<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@whitequark" class="u-url mention">@<span>whitequark</span></a></span> I mean, fair, you can think me deranged if you like... there's not much I can really do about that?</p><p>To be very clear on my part, though: none of that is to say that telemetry and the like are wrong. Rather the opposite, in that I wish there were better resources made available to help use it ethically. As you say, it's quite useful and can help make informed and useful decisions.</p>
<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://wandering.shop/@xgranade" class="u-url mention">@<span>xgranade</span></a></span> I think this view is deranged. mainly because I've spent a career *not* collecting telemetry, and as a result making changes that are necessarily uninformed (and sometimes quite upsetting)</p>
<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@whitequark" class="u-url mention">@<span>whitequark</span></a></span> To be clear, I don't think human experimentation is bad. Rather it's when that experimentation is uncontrolled and nonconsentual.</p>