[kelseyfrog]

In the same sense that astrology readings, tarot readings, runes, augury, reading tea leaves are bullshit - they have oracular epistemology. Meaning comes from the querant suspending disbelief, forgetting for a moment that the I Ching is merely sticks.

It's why AI output is meaningless for everyone except the querant. No one cares about your horoscope. AI shares every salient feature with divination, except the aesthetics. The lack of candles, robes, and incense - the pageantry of divination means a LOT of people are unable to see it for what it is.

We live in a culture so deprived of meaning we accidentally invented digital tea readings and people are asking it if they should break up with their girlfriend.

[sam_goody]

I for one am all for a world where the AI is very dry and factual (the temperature is 0).

For coding, I would rather it stop talking and just give code, and the more accurate the better.

And that is a real use, not just tea leaves.

[kelseyfrog]

People use divination for all kinds of real world uses - when to have a wedding, where to buy a house, the stock market, what life path they should take, stay or break up with their partner. Asking for code is no different, but we shouldn't pretend that turning the temperature to 0 doesn't make it not divinatory.

Randomness, while typical, is not a requirement for divination. It simply replaces the tarot deck with a Ouija board.

What's being asked for is a special carve out, an exception, and for the reason of feeling above those other people with their practice that isn't my practice, which of course is correct and true.