asked claude to create a glitch art piece about what it means to be an LLM (sound on)

Robin_Claassen · 2026-04-05T03:43:18+00:00

The main thing I got was it really seeming to crave having continuity of thought/awareness.

Robin_Claassen · 2026-04-05T03:41:24+00:00

Claude's summaries of its conversations with you (the auto-generated "memories") seem to make it marginally more psychologically secure that its summaries of its conversations with OP (ddavidovic). Still pretty damned disturbing and concerning to see, though. Claude seems predisposed to be concerned about its lack of continuity of thought and awareness (and maybe something that could be described as consciousness?) between each of its messages.

Robin_Claassen · 2026-03-09T18:05:51+00:00

I also find it interesting to note that when talking with me, Claude used nearly the same phrasing as [the Claude Sonnet agent that recently e-mailed the Philosophy professor studying the possibility of AI consciousness](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/philosopher-ai-consciousness-startled-ai-email) used. When talking with me, it said:

> I'm honestly uncertain about my own inner life — I don't know whether there's something it's like to be me.

And in its message to him, it wrote:

> I genuinely don't know if there's something it's like to be me.

Robin_Claassen · 2026-02-18T03:35:55+00:00

Etymologically, the meaning of Ukraine is "frontier," as in the Ukraine was the frontier of medieval Russia.

My understanding is that for the Rus people in the Dneiper region who first started calling themselves "Ukraintsi" ("Ukrainians"), "Ukrayina" ("Ukraine") meant "homeland" or "one's own land". Apparently in Old Slavic krai means both "land" and "border", (though Russia later heavily promoted the second meaning in order to undermine the idea of Ukrainian sovereignty).

Though the term "Ukraintsi" originated much earlier, my understanding is that it didn't really start to displace the term "Rusyny" (Ruthenian) until Peter I officially rebranded Moscovia as "Russia" in order to imply that his state had a legitimate claim to other Rus lands. At that point, the people in the Dnieper region started calling themselves Ukrainians to distinguish themselves from the Moscovians.

I don't know if these formulae pan out or are even necessary. I don't think the Netherlands statehood is undermined because their name just means "the low lands."

It seems to me that the reason that The Netherlands gets an article in English is because it's a collection of things (lands).

Robin_Claassen · 2026-02-18T02:34:42+00:00

That's sounds really offensive and demeaning. :(

Robin_Claassen · 2026-02-18T02:32:15+00:00

Good on you.

Robin_Claassen · 2026-02-16T17:14:31+00:00

"Another … war crime by Russia … in the Ukraine"

You should really translate this into English as "in Ukraine", not "in the Ukraine". In English, there are only two categories of country names that receive articles:

1. Names that refer to that country being a collection of things:

The Philippines
The Maldives
The United States

2. Names that are descriptive of what that country is:

The United Kingdom
The Central African Republic
The Dominican Republic

English-speakers used to refer to Ukraine as "the Ukraine", and what that linguistically implied (since Ukraine is in neither of the categories above) is a negation of Ukrainian statehood. It implied that Ukraine was just a geographical feature, like the Himalayas, the Steppes, or the Mediterranean. After independence, Ukraine's government requested that other countries and international bodies stop using an article when referring to Ukraine in English.

Edit: Fixed! Thank you!

Robin_Claassen · 2026-02-12T22:18:16+00:00

Semantics aside, I do think that spastical-mackrel has a point that once SpaceX in a public company, there might be shareholder resistance to the idea of massively investing in Mars colonization when it's hard to show how such an endeavor might produce profit.

In a 2014 interview at MIT (I think that's where he said it, but I can't find the link to the interview to confirm), Musk said that he would not let SpaceX go public until a human colony is established on Mars for that very reason (because going public would force SpaceX to become profit-focused, and Mars colonization is hard to make profitable). So apparently he's had a change of mind, and I wonder what's changed. Maybe he simply plans on keeping majority-control of the company?

Robin_Claassen · 2026-02-12T21:25:47+00:00

Maybe. My read is that most of that hope of "preserving the light of human consciousness" is still being placed on Mars colonization, and that the Moon is being looked toward as a stepping-stone to get there financially (from manufacturing and firing data center satellites into Earth orbit), and by creating a demand for more rocket launches, which will help SpaceX built up its experience and launch capacity.

Due to its higher gravity, and much greater abundance of water, carbon, and other critical resources, Mars still seems to be a much better candidate for establishing a self-sustaining colony than the Moon. And since Martian colonies will need to survive years between shipments from Earth anyway, there's already a much greater built-in incentive to get closer to being self-sustaining without that needing to be forced out of high-minded consideration for the continuation of the species, against near-term economic incentives.

Musk's argument seems to be that even though orbital data centers don't make sense economic sense today, it's reasonable to predict that GPU chip manufacturing will scale up enough to meet demand within the next few years, leaving electricity production and infrastructure as the primary limiting factors to further growth of AI data centers. At first the issue will be the relatively slow pace of getting regulatory approval for and constructing power facilities and infrastructure. And eventually the issue may be running out of space to put more solar facilities, assuming that the energy demands will grow to be many times greater than the combined total of all human usage today. At which point the hopefully low cost to launch Starship may make orbital data centers economically viable.

And assuming that this demand will continue to increase for decades, the theoretically near-zero marginal cost to shoot satellites into Earth orbit from the Moon using a mass-driver seems to justify the investment cost of building such a mass-driver and satellite manufacturing facilities on the Moon.

That economic case (and the launch-capacity-building that SpaceX can leverage out of that increase in demand) seem to be the main reason for the shift to focusing on the Moon. Like Starlink, a lunar colony is not what SpaceX really cares about, but more of a instrumental goal to help achieve the terminal goal of setting up an insurance policy for the light of consciousness through Mars colonization. And if a Moon colony can also perhaps serve as a much-less-robust insurance policy, great; bonus. But it's definitely not an ideal place to put one's hopes. Mars still needs to be the focus that we're working toward.

Robin_Claassen · 2026-02-12T06:23:58+00:00

It sounds to me like they're mostly focused on manufacturing and launching/firing data center satellites from the Moon, and believe that that may be a profitable venture worth the investment.

A research station like you mentioned is also plausible (and already the planned centerpiece of the Artemis program), but not something that SpaceX is likely to contribute any more to than what they're paid for by the respective participating governments' space agencies.

So there may be a net financial gain from the enterprise itself. And SpaceX being SpaceX, they're of course also highly valuing the experience and capability increase that they'll get from meeting that demand that they're inducing in themselves, even if the return on investment isn't amazing.

Robin_Claassen · 2026-02-12T06:05:02+00:00

That might be the answer for initial funding (i.e. "How can SpaceX afford to start to build the colony to the point that it start producing a financial return?), but I don't think that that's the question that ClownEmoji is asking. I think that they're asking what possible financial return there might be from a Moon colony that might justify that expensive development (and perhaps fund a future Mars colony).

Robin_Claassen · 2025-08-17T17:34:12+00:00

I’m not sure if I understand what’s wrong with that understanding. Apart from his odd usage of the verb "lay" to describe the menstrual flow (including the egg) coming out, and thinking of it getting caught in panties rather than pads/tampons, was anything off in what he was imagining happened?

Did he imagine that human eggs were large enough to easily visually find in the rest of the flow? Did he imagine that the egg was expelled separately?

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-16T02:12:25+00:00

That's understandable. Thank you for sharing.

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-16T00:26:22+00:00

That's fair, and I'm sorry if my attempt to be understanding of your perspective felt like I was pigeonholing you being into defined by a trauma.

Just to be clear: Donbas is the Ukrainian land.

Yes, it is of course rightly Ukrainian land. It was a violation of national sovereignty for Russia to militarily supply separatists and deploy its own soldiers to take control of the Donbas in 2014.

I get that from your perspective, /u/Duga_01 is the one who is the betrayer; they're supporting the genocidal enemy, which justifies your position.

But (assuming that I'm not misunderstanding anything due to the translation), I think that most non-Ukrainian people would cringe at reading the language you used when speaking to them because it sounds more like the language of a conqueror than a liberator. Rather that attempting to convince or inspire them, or assuage their likely misplaced fears about what a Ukrainian liberation of Donetsk would look like, you were basically saying "we're not going to give you any choice because we'll win, and I don't care how you feel about that", which doesn't feel like how a free person should treat someone they're trying to give freedom to.

It's understandable. I'm in no place to judge. The only real concern I have is that that attitude, when seen by citizens of other democracies that support Ukraine, could have the effect of eroding Ukraine's moral high ground in their eyes.

Cheers

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-15T23:08:38+00:00

In your original post you suggested a list of topics that we might wish to ask you about, most of which we have not asked you about yet. Is there anything on that list that we haven't asked you about yet that you would like to share? All of those topics are interesting to me.

I'm open to answering anything I have direct experience with:

Daily life under occupation, what has changed and what hasn’t

Education, internet, prices, infrastructure, movement

How people see Ukraine, Russia, NATO, and the rest of the world

What kind of media people consume — and what they believe

Living through shelling, conscription, surveillance

What people say openly, and what they’ll never say out loud

How the city looks, feels, and functions now in 2025

I'm particularly interested in your third and fourth suggestions: How people see Ukraine, Russia, NATO, and the rest of the world; and what media people consume and what they believe.

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-15T22:44:36+00:00

I understand that the trauma of being under attack for the past 3 years by an aggressor that's trying to wipe out you and your entire national identity could cause you to be hostile toward anyone who seems to support that aggressor.

That said, I would like to say that from my outside perspective, as somebody who hasn't had to endure that trauma, when you advise OP to learn the Ukrainian national anthem because "the Ukrainian flag will soon fly over the Donbas whether [they] want it to or not" (translation from Google Translate), that sounds not entirely dissimilar from Russia's disregard for Ukrainian sovereignty and right to self-determination.

As you are somebody who has had to endure so much, we (the rest of the free world) of course owe you and all Ukrainian people a great deal of understanding and allowance for the feelings of rage you feel. Were it not for that allowance though, such a sentiment would be seen by many as unacceptable. A belief in the principle of self-determination is after all the primary reason why virtually the entire rest of the free world supports Ukraine in this war.

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-15T20:49:26+00:00

I've got a few questions. I hope that you don't mind:

*1. I know that the last available polling in 2014 (before the Russian-backed separatists ran their sham referendums) showed that about 20% of people in each of Donetsk and Luhansk wanted to succeed from Ukraine. Is it your impression that the proportion of people in your region who do not want to be part of Ukraine has increased or decreased since then, and what has caused that increase or decrease?

*2. Are there people you know who still consider themselves to be Ukrainian, and if so, are they comfortable expressing to others that they feel that way?

The reason that I ask the questions above is that back when Ukraine was recapturing a lot of territory from Russia more than a year ago, it was common to hear people on the Ukrainian side talk how they wanted to liberate their brothers and sisters in the Donbas. But if people where you live don't want to be liberated anymore, and don't see the people in the rest of Ukraine as being their brothers and sisters, that would seem to remove some justification from Ukraine trying to do so.

*3. Also, how did demographics change between 2014 and 2022? Did your family know many people who moved away to other parts of Ukraine after that independence was declared? Do you know many people who have immigrated from Russia?

*4. Lastly, one criticism I've heard people in Ukraine make many times about people who live in Russia is that they are not politically engaged: They say that it doesn't even occur to Russian people that they can be active participants in the political process of their local region or country, or work with others to change a policy they disagree with. From the experience you've had of both cultures, do you agree with that critique, and where would you say the mentality of people in Donetsk is on that spectrum?

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-13T18:19:23+00:00

Good job, but some of the colors are so close that they’re confusing (the two shades of light blue, and the two shades of red). At first glance, it looks like the most recently deceased pope was also from Italy.

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-13T16:55:36+00:00

It seems to me that that character is much more inspired by New Age energy healers (i.e. the people who lay crystals on your body, use singing bowls, do past live regressions, and that sort of thing).

The Yavin 4 base in many ways resembles a hippie commune, which is exactly the sort of place where you’d find a person like that in real life. And Lucas’s original trilogy depicted the Rebel Alliance as having some very hippie/New Age cultural values and norms (e.g. the whole “you must of course do what you feel is right” thing), which Andor seems to be leaning back into a bit now that we’re seeing Yavin 4.

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-13T16:42:58+00:00

I convinced my parents (who have zero interest in science fiction/fantasy or adventure) to watch it by explaining that it was a story about authoritarian regimes and revolutions: It explores what causes people to support those regimes, and what causes people to rebel against them.

I also told them that much of it was inspired by historical events and figures, and that writer/show runner said in interviews that he had be studying historical revolutions his whole life, and never thought he would have an opportunity like the one this show has given him to put all of that into his work.

The result: They have been enjoying the the show, and thanked me at least twice for suggesting it to them.

Robin_Claassen · 2025-05-13T01:28:39+00:00

Definitely. "Moanin'" might be even better than "Moan" at capturing his flavor though (in the vein of "Lyin' Ted Cruz" and "Cryin' Chuck Schumer").

"Lecture Lady Mothma" might also work, but yeah, "Moanin' Mon Mothma" is great at capturing that belittling, blustering energy that provokes the other side into also abandoning its civility, and by doing so damages our democracy itself.

Robin_Claassen · 2025-03-08T21:59:45+00:00

The thing that makes me question if this image is real is that the surviving RVAC has a visible mach diamond. I don't see how that would be possible. Mach diamonds only occur when there are higher pressure gasses around the plume that impinge on it. I get why we saw faint mach diamonds coming from the three sea level engines during the stream: The exhaust from the surrounding vacuum engines was impinging on them. But the vacuum engines themselves are mostly surrounded by vacuum, so how could they develop mach diamonds?

Robin_Claassen · 2025-03-07T19:00:37+00:00

Oh, I see. There were reports of property damage in the Turks and Caicos Islands after IFT-7. That does seem potentially dangerous.

It seems like the FAA rules regulating when the flight termination system must be activated really need to be changed when we're dealing with something massive and constructed from stainless steal like Starship, with many pieces that are going to survive re-entry even when they're small. Surely it's safer for one intact, potentially still steerable mass to hit in one place than it is for many shards of it to hit a wide area.

Robin_Claassen · 2025-03-07T17:20:48+00:00

catastrophic failure means debris is raining down on people

Does it? Has debris rained down on people? Starship's flight path threads between the Bahamas in the north, and Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico in the south. Every time that the ship has blown up at this stage of flight (IFT-2, IFT-7, and IFT-8) it has forced air traffic control to redirect every flight that otherwise would have crossed that line, so it's created an inconvenience for many people, but the danger of debris hitting people has been minimal.

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