Josh Daws

Three years later, my book, The Idol of Evangelism, is here. The introduction is live and free to read. New chapters drop every two weeks for paid subscribers. Substack link below.

That was good... wait... was that about AI?! 😁 Harrison Bergeron is a favorite. One of the earliest short stories I made my son read. I think we have fundamentally different conceptions of man's ability to master our tools. I believe, as part of the cultural mandate, we are granted the ability to actually accomplish our calling and take dominion. That inolves the use of tools for good. More powerful tools have more power to harm (table saws vs butter knifes) and should be used with more care.

@JoshDaws @NeilShenvi @DavidSchaengold @JoshDaws I would love it if you read this story (it’s not Harrison Bergeron, it’s by Scott Alexander) because I think it describes another part of my concern very well. It’s very short! croissanthology.com/earring

In my experience the major predictive factors are: 1) are you a stem person, especially any kind of tech or engineering? 2) are you low church/non-sacramental? If the answer to either of those two is Yes you’re more likely to be bullish on AI

@bendellwerry It was homoerotic and you know it. 🤪

I’ve been relistening to Project Hail Mary recently (which if you’ve never listened to the audiobook you should) and I realized the reason it’s so enjoyable is that it’s not just a science fiction nerd fest, it’s really at hear a story about friendship. .

That’s overly pedantic, but sure, computers can’t do math in that sense. So? We use them all the time to do math. What you’re presupposing about AI is that it has agency apart from human intent. It doesn’t. To follow the same logic, AI doesn’t write anything. People use it to write. And just like a calculator for math, you can use it well or you can use it poorly.

@JoshDaws @NeilShenvi Here’s a good piece by @DavidSchaengold on this plough.com/en/topics/life…

I heard glowing reviews on here. And I guess I was expecting something like Larry McMurtry’s lonesome dove. But yeah, what Josh said. Maybe it’s me, but I need something more than beautiful sentences, perhaps a few compelling characters or a better story. Don’t recommend.

@suzania @NeilShenvi Computers are called computers because they replaced the humans who did math who were called computers. Math is, in a very real sense, all they do.

@NeilShenvi I wouldn’t have an opinion one way or another, although my impression is that math people (not technical people or engineers) would object to the idea that computers of any kind can actually do math.

@DougTenNapel Yeah, she was great.

@JoshDaws I think they’re both great but Kate Hudson seems to have blossomed into a very skilled actress. Lots of twists and turns that kept me wondering what would happen.

Watched Song Sung Blue and it’s a warm, beautiful movie. Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson give top performances. I’m a Neil Diamond fan so all of the music is a blast.

@Bowtiedrealtor @WisprFlow It's killing the battery life on my phone.

@JoshDaws @WisprFlow It is

I might ditch @WisprFlow for this; playing with it a bit this morning, and it seems like an upgrade in almost every way.

@hackteck @WisprFlow @tryvoiceink I haven’t. I paid for an annual subscription for WisprFlow back in December, so I’ll probably just stick with it.

@JoshDaws @WisprFlow Have you tried @tryvoiceink? I've gone from WisprFlow > Aqua Voice > VoiceInk and it stuck + open source, support for Parakeet v3, still a relatively clean UI

Real artists are excited to see what they can do with new tools.

You scream at it all you want, but it’s a useful tool that is only going to get more useful and it’s not going away.

One rule I try to live by: I don’t require my friends to be friends with my friends or enemies with my enemies. I’ll make intros when it makes sense, and I’ll try to clear up misunderstandings when I think two people should get along. But if you have a wide circle, you can spend all your time doing that and still never be done.

On the other hand, I can’t think of a single Christian AI enthusiast who has had to compromise on doctrine to maintain their view. In fact, they hold their positions on explicitly and distinctly Christian grounds.

@jim_loves_tacos I agree.

@JoshDaws It’s just a tool. There is a right and proper use for it, and a sinful use for it. Pretty much the state of technology since the dawn of time. Like when Cain used existing technology, a rock, to murder his brother. I suspect most people do not believe it can become “alive.”

The most alarming thing about the AI debate is how many people believe man can breathe life into our creations.

This is like criticizing the iPhone by demonstrating how bad the Newton was. OpenAI has been focused on Codex and GPT 5.4. The voice chat probably hasn’t been touched in over a year. It’s little more than a proof of concept.

@wokal_distance I never see your stuff anymore. My engagement is way down as well.

I see people complaining all the time about their payouts, and let me tell you that given my follower count and metrics I have gotten way less than any of you, and I do my best to never complain about it. I think I got blocked by a massive account because my reach has been significantly nerfed compared to what it used to be, but again, that jsut part of the way they are trying to figure out how to make good content rise to the top. (although I wish they'd stop giving large accounts that power) I say all of that to say that @nikitabier is doing his best to at least try and prevent people from gaming the x payout algorithm and ensure that payouts go to creators trying to actually add something the the discourse (rather than recycling other people's tweet's or content going viral on other platforms and such). We all complain (I try not to but I'm human) but please try to recognize these guys are doing their level best to make this platform flourish. 😇

@kadenbc Can you explain that to me? I’m not familiar.

@JoshDaws Im observing way too many evangelicals who have taken up pageau’s hyper-sacramentalism without realizing it’s not a coherent position to hold as a Protestant

@Plinythebelter Can we endow machines with that?

@JoshDaws We can endow art with pieces of ourselves. The life we were gifted and given by the creator.