[array_key_first]

The need for human exceptionalism doesn't come from the psyche or anything like that, it's just basic survival skills. Humans believe themselves to be special because that's the only belief that isn't self-destructive.

You can choose to believe humans are not exceptional, in the same way I can choose to cut off all my fingers and eat them. Why would I do that?

If what you say about LLMs is true, that's bad for me. And for you. And for our families. Because it means our instrinic value of living just went down a lot. I choose not to believe it because I am not suicidal. And, ultimately, I think the people who do believe it can only ever make their lives worse. Probably my life worse too, but maybe if I'm all the way over here I'll avoid the blast radius.

[virgildotcodes]

Sure, I agree it's a valuable survival skill. Being fully consumed by the idea that you are the only thing that matters and is of value, or at least you are at the top of the pyramid of what matters and is of value, is how you survive mortal conflict and competition with others be they animals, humans, future AIs, whatever.

That said, an objective assessment of reality reveals that you are not in fact the only thing that matters, or the thing that matters the most, in this universe. There's no way to argue your life is more valuable than the lives of the other humans you're in competition with that isn't ex post facto rationalization.

I agree that LLMs/AI pose many threats to us. I don't think the intrinsic value of living objectively went down, although the perception of it may be in the process of doing so. I think it's objectively always been what it is and we've held useful (to us) delusions about it, which AI now threatens to shatter some part of these.

I've thought a few times lately about beneficial delusion - things like blind, baseless, even counterfactual confidence in yourself are genuinely helpful in so many aspects of life from interpersonal relationships, to sales, to success in business and various pursuits.

You may not actually be the smartest and most capable person but by genuinely believing that you are you will trend towards positive outcomes.

Anyway, I think this belief in our central role in the universe/exceptionalism is another example of this, or as you put it just another useful survival skill.

That said, I do like to stay grounded as much as I can in as objective an assessment of reality as I can muster, otherwise I start to feel unmoored and like I'm going insane.