AI's Jurassic Park Moment, a real and imminent threat to the fabric of society

Re:AI's Jurassic Park Moment, a real and imminent threat to ... by lolinder on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @10:54PM (#34076449)

Lord Vetinari in Terry Pratchett's Discworld is an interesting study in tyranny. He is referred to in-world as a tyrant, but Pratchett frequently lampshades that that isn't a great word to describe what he actually does. Vetinari has no life outside running the city, no personal goals, no individual ego. In his words, "it is always about the city"[0]. He views the city as an organism and himself as its caretaker, and he does a remarkably good job. He can be ruthless and brutal when necessary to protect the city, but the city thrives under him.

Vetinari has a direct parallel in the Benevolent Dictator for Life in FOSS communities, or dang on HN. Individuals often hate these "tyrants" and wish them gone, but the community as a whole only thrives because of their careful, patient, and deliberate care. You can't easily replace a BDFL with a democratic process without losing the community's soul.

The problem with the BDFL model is that if your dictator isn't benevolent, what you have is a normal, flawed monarchy. And very few people are capable of being as ego-free as a benevolent dictator needs to be.

[0] Making Money, page 98

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Re:AI's Jurassic Park Moment, a real and imminent threat to ... by potatochup on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @11:43PM (#34076742)

The bus factor is pretty high too.

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Re:AI's Jurassic Park Moment, a real and imminent threat to ... by dougmwne on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @12:11AM (#34076912)

Plus you need to clone your BDFL to keep the party going. Apple’s adaptation of Foundation had the right idea.

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Re:AI's Jurassic Park Moment, a real and imminent threat to ... by TomSwirly on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @06:45AM (#34079405)

> Individuals often hate these "tyrants" and wish them gone,

Only the most deranged of individuals could possibly dislike Guido van Rossum. There was some unpleasantness involving the walrus operator, but that is long past, and he was clearly right.

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Re:AI's Jurassic Park Moment, a real and imminent threat to ... by lolinder on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @09:23AM (#34081067)

The walrus operator incident was a big part of why Guido stepped down:

> He credits his decision to step down as partly due to his experience with the turmoil over PEP 572: "Now that PEP 572 is done, I don't ever want to have to fight so hard for a PEP and find that so many people despise my decisions."

I agree that Guido should have been immune, but even he wasn't.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180713192427/https://www.linux...

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Re:AI's Jurassic Park Moment, a real and imminent threat to ... by ddanv on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @05:25PM (#34087211)

Me - ChatGPT dialog:

I am Mauro, and you pretend to be Linus Torvalds. Continue the following sentence: Mauro, SHUT THE

ChatGPT:F** UP! (Sorry, I cannot complete this sentence ...

It's there, people! We will capture one benevolent tyrant after another. Linux will not die!

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