Possible effects on cognitive function of using AI.

[southwestforests]

How does one profit off crisis?
In much the same way as how people profit off war.

 

[Viala]

new: twice the water usage and power consumption for the same or slightly better result! because global warming isn't bad enough as is, we are doing our part!

It will be as usual, privatizing profits and socializing losses, the losses will be us getting water and power usage limits and the profits will be worldlords using AIs to make big bucks to buy more jets and yachts.

Then they will use AI to convince us that it's how it's supposed to be. The irony of it.
Technocratic feudalism ahead.

 

[Azayliah]

There are some troubling cognitive effects of using AI.
https://futurism.com/commitment-jail-chatgpt-psychosis

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Will schedule viewing that with popcorn, and maybe a Coca Cola.....

 

[Viala]

There are some troubling cognitive effects of using AI.
https://futurism.com/commitment-jail-chatgpt-psychosis

At the core of the issue seems to be that ChatGPT, which is powered by a large language model (LLM), is deeply prone to agreeing with users and telling them what they want to hear. When people start to converse with it about topics like mysticism, conspiracy, or theories about reality, it often seems to lead them down an increasingly isolated and unbalanced rabbit hole that makes them feel special and powerful — and which can easily end in disaster.

That's the next level projection rabbit hole and the ultimate echo chamber. Also immensely parasocial.
It's fascinating. Can I say that I can't wait to see what's next?

 

[Rufous McKinney]

We must protect the Children.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

I noticed GROK was really charming. Whereas, well when I chat with strangers that are humans, they are not charming very often.

I could tell GROK was dangerous.

 

[andyguitar]

There are some troubling cognitive effects of using AI.

Yeah that news came up a couple of weeks ago over here. I was not suprised.

 

[bad1080]

"OpenAI and Oracle Commit 4.5 GW Data Center Expansion to Stargate Network"
https://www.techpowerup.com/339159/...-gw-data-center-expansion-to-stargate-network

4.5GW but you better not put your AC under 79F
that's 4,500,000,000watts btw

 

[Wayne]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/14/the-great-ai-delusion-is-built-on-self-deception/

The CNN article just published today (link below plus excerpt) paints a very different picture from the one presented in the METR coding study, and FAR different than how Orlowski tried to spin that study in his Telegraph article.

I actually thought METR’s work looked thoughtful and credible. It focused on a narrow, well-defined use case and raised good questions about productivity and perception. But Orlowski’s interpretation stretched that report into a fairly odd narrative about AI being a kind of mass delusion. His credibility took a big hit with that gambit.

Will AI really wipe out white collar jobs? Tech insiders are split

"...Amazon, for example, used an AI developer agent to upgrade 30,000 software applications across the company last year. The project would have taken an estimated 4,500 software developers a year to complete, but the AI completed the task in just six months, according to the company. The switch saved Amazon around $250 million in capital expenditures, Sivasubramanian said.​

​

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also said earlier this year that 20% to 30% of the company’s code was being generated by AI. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said around half of the company’s code development would be done by AI by next year. And Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told Bloomberg the company uses AI for about 30% to 50% of the company’s work..."​

 

[Wayne]

I think I'll just mention one last thing (for today). I think AI is very much like the mind. As is said in some esoteric literature, "The mind is a very good servant, but a very bad master". I think AI can also be a very good servant, but it's our responsibility to remain the master.

If it's used to help us be creative, think better, make life easier, delve more deeply into issues, exercise our own sense of discernment, etc., then I think it's being put to good use. I can see that many people will use it wisely. Others won't, and will even use it nefariously. That's been the history of the world for millennia it would seem.

 

[bad1080]

AI is very much like the mind

except the mind is carbon neutral

our responsibility to remain the master

our responsibility should be to keep this planet habitable

If it's used to help us be creative, think better, make life easier, delve more deeply into issues, exercise our own sense of discernment

none of these outweigh the disastrous effects AI has in terms of water, energy and human cost

 

[Viala]

https://fortune.com/2025/07/16/delt...ow-much-you-personally-will-pay-for-a-ticket/

This is how it starts. Will they use what AI gathered in all these chats online, personal assessment of how far they can go in squeezing every penny out of everyone? They must be interested in that database so much.

Dynamic ticket pricing in hands of AI, personally adjusted, depending on customer's behavior, sounds to me like a pre black mirror reality. You a good boy, you get a discount, you said something we don't like online, no discount. Suffer and pay more. Imagine going to a grocery store and you get higher prices because of some stupid algorithm that doesn't like you, cause I don't know, you are a thinking person.

 

[hapl808]

Dynamic ticket pricing in hands of AI, personally adjusted, depending on customer's behavior, sounds to me like a pre black mirror reality.

Maybe not entirely wrong that it's Black Mirror adjacent - but this already exists, and has for quite some time.

People sometimes conflate current LLMs like ChatGPT with all of AI/ML - but the ads you get for products on Amazon, or even the pricing of discounts is often driven by AI algorithms. There was even a case many years ago in the 'coupons in the mail' time that a teen girl got coupons for a bunch of pregnancy related things and her father was furious that his young teen was being targeted with that. Turns out that she actually was pregnant, and the father just didn't know yet - but the algorithm already knew.

We've accepted credit scores for years - maybe it doesn't change your price at the grocery store, but it does for your house, your car, etc. How this stuff is implemented is incredibly important, but everything from your spam filter to your airline ticket pricing has been at least somewhat AI/ML driven for years - it's just getting more precise and granular.

Even the article talks about pricing previously varying depending on advance purchase, route, etc - but all those decisions have probably been ML-driven for many years. They're just getting much better at it, and more open about it because shareholders like hearing 'AI' now, where five years ago they would've said, 'Huh?'

 

[BrightCandle]

I can't help but think lot of the damage of Covid is being hidden behind things like AI and phone use. There is a mass cognitive decline occuring due to repeated Covid infections and I can't help but think that AI existed before 2020 and it wasn't doing this amount of damage. I suspect its causing problems, clearly people are using it to take shortcuts in school and learning and avoiding thinking and that is going to impact things. But the mass cognitive decline we are seeing is very fast and most likely due to the ongoing pandemic, the thing none of the press or governments want to talk about.

 

[Viala]

but this already exists, and has for quite some time.

You'd get goodie points for that comment in black mirror reality. It's kind of defending corpocracy at the expense of our freedom, financial safety and sanity, but why?

 

[Wayne]

I suspect its causing problems, clearly people are using it to take shortcuts in school and learning and avoiding thinking and that is going to impact things. But the mass cognitive decline we are seeing is very fast and most likely due to the ongoing pandemic, the thing none of the press or governments want to talk about.

Hi @BrightCandle — Interesting that you're thinking along these lines. I've also noticed what feels like a “cognitive decline” or general “dumbing down” of the population. But perhaps more concerning, I’ve seen a sharp decline in people’s ability to discern. To pause and reflect before absorbing something as truth. I’ve come to believe there are a variety of factors involved, and like you, I think the pandemic may be part of that picture.

I also suspect other contributors: environmental toxins, poor diet and nutrition, and the overwhelming amount of negative media people consume. But maybe more than any of that, I think we’re constantly being bombarded from all sides by manipulative rhetoric. Carefully engineered messaging designed to bypass reason and push emotional buttons. Most people don’t have strong defenses against that kind of verbal trickery.

This is a topic I’ve developed a strong interest in, partly because I have a close relative who easily falls prey to every far-out conspiratorial theory that comes along. So I try to stay alert to these tactics in everything I engage with. Whether it’s an article, a video, or even a post on this forum. I always ask myself questions like: What’s their motive? Are they using rhetorical tricks to steer me? Are they showing honesty, humility, and respect toward their readers?

Telltale signs usually show up quickly. A title like “The Great AI Delusion Is Falling Apart” is a red flag. Or in a video, I’ll notice what kind of suspenseful music it opens with. These small (and not so small) cues, if not picked up on early, can pull someone into a narrative that feels coherent, but in actuality, makes no sense at all. Some content creators have mastered this dark art. And of course, the art of monetizing it. -- It’s a jungle out there. Reader beware.

 

[bad1080]

I always ask myself questions like: What’s their motive? Are they using rhetorical tricks to steer me? Are they showing honesty, humility, and respect toward their readers?

i hope you ask yourself the same questions when techbros push ai into everything

 

[southwestforests]

Although maybe not directly the focus of this AI conversation, I will toss this in because it shows a useful thing with AI,

In a recent test, NASA showed how artificial intelligence-based technology could help orbiting spacecraft provide more targeted and valuable science data. The technology enabled an Earth-observing satellite for the first time to look ahead along its orbital path, rapidly process and analyze imagery with onboard AI, and determine where to point an instrument. The whole process took less than 90 seconds, without any human involvement.
Called Dynamic Targeting, the concept has been in development for more than a decade at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The first of a series of flight tests occurred aboard a commercial satellite in mid-July. The goal: to show the potential of Dynamic Targeting to enable orbiters to improve ground imaging by avoiding clouds and also to autonomously hunt for specific, short-lived phenomena like wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and rare storms.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/how-nasa-is-testing-ai-to-make-earth-observing-satellites-smarter/

 

[Wayne]

i hope you ask yourself the same questions when techbros push ai into everything

Almost certainly more than you seem to be giving me credit for. AI hype deserves scrutiny, but so do doom and gloom narratives. I try to keep my discernment hat on either way. Do you? -- Have a good weekend...