(I keep delivering this as a quip, here's a bit more) First order of business - is 'tool' going to have an interesting, distinguishing and thus illuminative meaning or be a mere platitudinous stand-in for "anything useful"? We'll save tool as "anyone/thing that can be exploited" for the AI titans, f
When slopheads say “it’s just a tool, like a hammer”, I think the natural response among careful thinkers is to jump straight to Heidegger. Like, “just a tool? Tools shape the essence of your understanding of reality, and the trajectory of civilization itself! How can you say ‘just’?!”
But you don’t even need to dive into all that if you just wanna dismantle what’s obviously a thought-terminating cliche. “A hammer? Really? I can’t recall the last time I told my hammer to search my house for things that need to be hammered, go ahead and hammer them, and send an email to me and my wife with the results.” Maybe this is quite unlike a hammer.
I appreciate him taking this tack.
When slopheads say “it’s just a tool, like a hammer”, I think the natural response among careful thinkers is to jump straight to Heidegger. Like, “just a tool? Tools shape the essence of your understanding of reality, and the trajectory of civilization itself! How can you say ‘just’?!”
But you don’t even need to dive into all that if you just wanna dismantle what’s obviously a thought-terminating cliche. “A hammer? Really? I can’t recall the last time I told my hammer to search my house for things that need to be hammered, go ahead and hammer them, and send an email to me and my wife with the results.” Maybe this is quite unlike a hammer.