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by beacon473 295 days ago
What's wrong with using an LLM to learn about politics and religion?

I've found Claude to be an excellent tool to facilitate introspective psychoanalysis. Unlike most human therapists I've worked with, Claude will call me on my shit and won't be talked into agreeing with my neurotic fantasies (if prompted correctly).
2 comments
Night_Thastus 295 days ago
Because unlike a human who can identify that some lines of reasoning are flawed or unhealthy, an LLM will very happily be a self-contained echo chamber that will write whatever you want with some nudging.

It can drive people further and further into their own personal delusions or mental health problems.

You may think it's being critical of you, but it's not. It's ultimately interacting you on your terms, saying what you want to hear when you want to hear it. That's not how therapy works.

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beacon473 293 days ago
> You may think it's being critical of you, but it's not. It's ultimately interacting you on your terms, saying what you want to hear when you want to hear it.

That's been my experience with human therapists. When I tell Claude to stop being sycophantic, it complies. When I tell a human to stop being sycophantic, they get defensive.

I agree that an ideal human therapists would be better than Claude, but most that I've worked with are far from ideal. Most are not very bright, easily manipulated, and quick to defensiveness when questioned. And Claude won't try to get me to take random meds with the only justification for the specific medication being 'got to start somewhere'.

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BoredPositron 295 days ago
No you are gaslighting yourself without recognizing it. That's what we are talking about.
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iinnPP 295 days ago
It's impossible to gaslight yourself as it requires intention.
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BoredPositron 295 days ago
He wants to be called a good boy, so the LLM calls him a good boy. Since the LLM is a machine that does what you want, he's essentially doing it to himself. It might not be a conscious choice, but there's still intention behind it. Kein Herr im eigenen Haus. (No master in one's own house.) - Sigmund Freud. He was wrong about a lot of stuff but this is one thing that still stands.

It's called unconscious intention, and here's a pretty interesting paper that'll bring you up to speed: https://irl.umsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1206&contex...

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iinnPP 295 days ago
I'm sure you can be unconsciously intent on things, but gaslighting is a unique concept. Here's the definition I am relying on: manipulate (someone) using psychological methods into questioning their own sanity or powers of reasoning.

In your provided example, the user is obviously not trying to manipulate someone into questioning their sanity, nor power of reasoning. Quite the opposite. Lying to themselves (your example) for sure.

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BoredPositron 295 days ago
gaslighting is the act of invalidating one’s own, true experience and yes you can do it yourself.

https://philpapers.org/rec/MCGAIG

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-sobriety/2...

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