Re:Ask HN: GPT-3 reveals my full name – can I do anything?
by shkkmo on Sunday June 26, 2022 @04:27PM
(#31887622)
> But context is king. The context of that particular quote, is that it came immediately after this
Yes, the context was a switch from first person to second person. The most reasonable and likely interpretation is not that it was an accident, but that the second person was intended to convey a statement about what people in general should do. E.I: "If one can't stand by a position maybe one shouldn't air it."
It is true that there is a trade off between anonymity and culpability, but that doesn't mean we don't need both. To my mind, we need anonymity to protect smaller scale participants and accountability for larger scale participants to limit abuse of power. I don't know how you achieve that in practice.
But context is king. The context of that particular quote, is that it came immediately after this:
> I stand by what I say, though my views now may be different to those of previous me and I'm happy to debate that too.
They were clearly talking about themselves, and a rule they apply to themselves.
That said, one of my "cleanup routines" for writing and posting, is I look for instances of "you," and often change it to "I" or "me."
I would have probably written it like so:
> If I can't stand by a position, maybe I shouldn't air it.
BTW: I apply the same philosophy to my own posting.
There's a very valid argument for online (and offline) anonymity, and I don't like the specious "If you aren't doing anything wrong, then you shouldn't have anything to hide." argument.
I just find using that as a fig leaf for trolling and stalking people is rather annoying, as that behavior actually puts the people that really need it, at risk.
Standing up for my Principles can sometimes be quite scary. I've risked losing jobs, for refusing to carry out orders that were unethical, and I am routinely attacked, here (but politely -this is HN, after all), for holding some of the views I hold.