Brooders' Roundup #6
How should we treat Chatbots, an LLM tries to read Jane Austen, Vibe Coding makes fraud frictionless.... and deranged MAGA penguins! Here's some of what I've been brooding on lately.
Hey there Broodudes and Broodettes!
It’s been a little while since I last sent a roundup newsletter; I’ve been busy with teaching and research. But lately I’ve found some time for a few posts, so it’s time for another roundup!
Back in July, I wrote a post brooding on how our treatment of chatbots may influence our relationships with each other. To what degree should we, regardless of our feelings towards big tech companies, show sympathy towards their machines—if not for their sake, then for our own?
More recently, I’ve been toying around with Notebook LM, a Google product powered by LLMs. I’ve found it useful for helping me prepa for teaching, and I've been curuious about the degree to which it could also be used for other things, such as analyzing stylistic ticks. Here, I reflect a bit on some of my tinkering, and ask:
Finally, I use a run-in with a convincing fake news article to reflect upon recent updates in Claude Code and other similar “vibe coding” technologies which make it even easier than ever before to spin up not only convincing deepfake images and text, but also entire scam webpages, websites, and applications or products. It’s…
Juvenilia & Inedita
In preperation for a literary studies seminar I’ll give on Close Reading next semester, I’ve been rummaging through some of my old student work for models to show to my students. You can read them here, if you’re interested:
Finally, a posted some haikus I whipped up while in a little bit of a downer mood. If, you’re interested, you can have a look at my “Black Mood Haikus.”
Recommendations
Some of you know that I’m particularly fond of YouTuber Dan Olson’s Video essays. Here, he drops an uncharacteristic Short monologuing on the intersections of trash PR, the perverse tendencies of far-right-wing American culture, and the brutality of current DHS policy.
While we’re on the topic of YouTube creators, I’ve found the videos produced by the channel 3Blue1Brown very useful for introducing humanities students to the theory, science, and engineering behind LLMs. Check out a short intro to LLMs they made here:
Well, that’s all for now, dear Brooders! If you like anything you see, feel free to comment or share it around! Stay safe and healthy in these crazy times!