Post #669028

2026-03-12 22:12 UTC

LLM users respect a chatbot more than potential contributors is the worst part of all this. Everyone was capable of writing basic docs all along. They just didn’t want to for a fellow human. I don’t know what exactly is it when you treat people as things and things as people, but it sure is fucking gross.

Replies (7)

@maxine@hachyderm.io 2026-03-12 22:26

I dunno, I guess a lot more people in life always wanted to be managers. The kind of people who specifically want yesmen in their lives, and refused to write docs to not have to deal with contributors who might challenge things. It’s deeply pathetic and sad. Hierarchies and abuse, that’s all it comes down to.

Open ##2417816
@noodlemaz@mstdn.games 2026-03-16 13:00

@maxine@hachyderm.io "Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things." Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight (Discworld) #bookstodon #quotes #GNUTerryPratchett

Open ##2417817
@abucci@buc.ci 2026-03-16 13:04

@maxine@hachyderm.io Among other things, we become callous and lose empathy. From a talk by Sherry Turkle, "Who do we become when we talk to machines?", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy7bpyt_vnE A self over the past 20 years that’s become starved of the give and take of conversation, that hasn’t learned to tolerate vulnerability and respect the vulnerability of others, is primed to look to technology for simpler fare. We treated programs as though they were people, but now we are trained to treat people as though they were programs. To me that’s the moment to mark. It’s not whether or not chatbots are fascinating, or smart, or pass the Turing test. It’s what it’s doing to our treating people as if they were only machines.

Open ##2417819
@perigee@rage.love 2026-03-16 13:04

@maxine@hachyderm.io @davidgerard@circumstances.run I don't know this but I suspect it's related to my experience as an antiracism and social justice and civil rights educator. If I don't establish capitalistic value of my work first (even if I plan to give advice and information pro bono) my advice and information is steadfastly ignored if I give it for free. If I insist it's paid for before giving it, then it is far more likely to be valued when given.

Open ##2417820
@MxAlba@blahaj.zone 2026-03-16 14:28

@maxine@hachyderm.io I'm reminded of Sofia Isella's song The Doll People which includes the line "when the machines are all people and the people are machines".

Open ##2417822
@weekend_editor@mathstodon.xyz 2026-03-16 16:26

@maxine@hachyderm.io Terry Pratchett's Granny Weatherwax, in Carpe Jugulum, offers the opinion that sin is treating people as things. We have invented the Inverse Weatherwax: treating things as people.

Open ##2417823
@Sonic2k@oldbytes.space 2026-03-16 17:12

@maxine@hachyderm.io Treating people like things, is what ASSHOLES, ACCOUNTANTS, and CEOs do

Open ##2417824