I think everyone can agree on “this is a slur that we took from StarWars to be derogatory and justify our distaste and opposition to genAI”, it’s just that some people think that’s a bad thing?
Like it appears some people think using the n-word is bad because it’s Bad™, not because there’s an actual dehumanising effect on a group of people. What’s your argument, that we’re dehumanising Grok? Ye because it’s not a human! “But if it was about the Jews it’d be bad” ye and if my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike, what the fuck is your point?
As for the origins I also think it is very important that the word is “clanker” from StarWars, since their droids are not sentient, whereas both “toaster” and “skinjob” are actually used as a hateful term towards sentient beings. BSG goes out of its way to drive in the fact that genociding Cylons would also be bad, actually. The sentience of “skinjobs” is like the whole point of Blade Runner.
The word isn’t the issue it’s the way people use it. It’s often used as a thinly veiled excuse to be racist… Like making youtube shorts where it perfectly depicts very racist stereotypes but i’ts about ai so ti’s okay. This is inevitably how words like this end up. Especially if they ever get mainstream. Your intentions can be whatever, but like. Sociologically speaking this is how a term like this would always end up bieng used by some people as an exucse to perform racism but under the tehin guise of it acutally beinga buot rovbots not black people.
Just to play Devil’s Advocate, since I am a huge fan of Filoni’s Clone Wars series, Clanker feels the most weird because it was created to be used as a slur in the same way the Allied forces had slurs for Germans and Japanese in WW2. I can understand why some people might have moral grounds against using what is ultimately a proxy of real life slurs, especially if they were ever a recipient of that kinda discrimination. Sure, it’s a fantasy, and I think from a standpoint of “The Republic is experiencing moral decay” it’s interesting for the story, but it was always a lil fucked up that the kids show thought hurling slurs was such a fundamental part of war that they needed to invent a new one. It’d probably be better if we didn’t teach children that.
It’s also kinda a weird slur to use against AI. The droids are called clankers because they clank, it’s like an onomotopeia. LLMs don’t clank at all.
you would not be the first person to look at the etymology of a slur, note that it originally had a different context, and point out that it doesn’t really map 1:1 with its usage.
having not watched the clone wars I can’t comment on specifics with your example.
Anyway, regarding slurs against non-sentient things: “Lemon”, “hunkajunk”, “shitbox” get used for cars, i demand justice for cars!!!
I think everyone can agree on “this is a slur that we took from StarWars to be derogatory and justify our distaste and opposition to genAI”, it’s just that some people think that’s a bad thing?
Like it appears some people think using the n-word is bad because it’s Bad™, not because there’s an actual dehumanising effect on a group of people. What’s your argument, that we’re dehumanising Grok? Ye because it’s not a human! “But if it was about the Jews it’d be bad” ye and if my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike, what the fuck is your point?
As for the origins I also think it is very important that the word is “clanker” from StarWars, since their droids are not sentient, whereas both “toaster” and “skinjob” are actually used as a hateful term towards sentient beings. BSG goes out of its way to drive in the fact that genociding Cylons would also be bad, actually. The sentience of “skinjobs” is like the whole point of Blade Runner.
The word isn’t the issue it’s the way people use it. It’s often used as a thinly veiled excuse to be racist… Like making youtube shorts where it perfectly depicts very racist stereotypes but i’ts about ai so ti’s okay. This is inevitably how words like this end up. Especially if they ever get mainstream. Your intentions can be whatever, but like. Sociologically speaking this is how a term like this would always end up bieng used by some people as an exucse to perform racism but under the tehin guise of it acutally beinga buot rovbots not black people.
Here’s a video talking about it.
Just to play Devil’s Advocate, since I am a huge fan of Filoni’s Clone Wars series, Clanker feels the most weird because it was created to be used as a slur in the same way the Allied forces had slurs for Germans and Japanese in WW2. I can understand why some people might have moral grounds against using what is ultimately a proxy of real life slurs, especially if they were ever a recipient of that kinda discrimination. Sure, it’s a fantasy, and I think from a standpoint of “The Republic is experiencing moral decay” it’s interesting for the story, but it was always a lil fucked up that the kids show thought hurling slurs was such a fundamental part of war that they needed to invent a new one. It’d probably be better if we didn’t teach children that.
It’s also kinda a weird slur to use against AI. The droids are called clankers because they clank, it’s like an onomotopeia. LLMs don’t clank at all.
They clank when you hit the gpu with a big hammer
(This comment is not really a criticism)
you would not be the first person to look at the etymology of a slur, note that it originally had a different context, and point out that it doesn’t really map 1:1 with its usage.
having not watched the clone wars I can’t comment on specifics with your example.
Anyway, regarding slurs against non-sentient things: “Lemon”, “hunkajunk”, “shitbox” get used for cars, i demand justice for cars!!!