Post

Eric Panzer
@ericpanzer.bsky.social

I mean, I'm sure that AI plays *some* role But to take a trend that has been accelerating for decades, increased after COVID but before chatGPT, comes as a result of other online misinformation, and which appears to have a climate change angle, and make it sound like a ChatGPT story is questionable

Eric Panzer
@ericpanzer.bsky.social

Focusing on ChatGPT is a sexy angle, but if we focus on that at the expense of other factors that seem to remain much bigger, we're distracting from solutions that keep more people safe We should certainly encourage skepticism of LLMs, but we need also make it about broader caution and skepticism

Faine Greenwood
@faineg.com

I think it’d be pretty silly not to speculate about the impact a tool that a ton of average people have started using for basic information gathering functions - and who have been encouraged to do so by a historically huge marketing campaign - is having on safe wilderness behavior

Eric Panzer
@ericpanzer.bsky.social

I'm not saying we can't inquire. But this is one small part of a much longer article that lists a variety of factors which appear to be more important than and predate LLMs But right now it's very chic to make everything about AI, even if it's not the thing with the most explanatory power

Eric Panzer
@ericpanzer.bsky.social

To give another example, the number of articles being written about the environmental impact of Trump's fossil fuel policies pales in comparison to those being written about AI And this has consequences. I'd be very curious how many people now think AI is a bigger environmental threat than Trump

Verona Campione
@rickhough.bsky.social

Was discussing this recently with a friend of mine who is a CAI qualified mountain guide. Many more are now attracted to the mountains as a cheaper and cooler alternative to the beach. They are often ill-prepared for what they encounter. Stay safe!

David Bailey
@drgdave.bsky.social

I just realized yesterday (I'm slow) that AI is really nothing but death. Death of thought. Death of truth. Death of trust. Death of creativity. Death of learning. And in cases like the one above --- or where AI is used in medicine, dear God --- literal human death. It has no redeeming value.

DaBella
@highme.org

I want to answer the question of “why are the Italian Alps so deadly?” question with “have you never seen a photo of the Italian Alps?

ian-medgett.bsky.social
@ian-medgett.bsky.social

Probably 25+ years ago I bought a handheld GPS when it became affordable. Used it on a Welsh mountain that I was familiar with. Thick fog and no viz. I was relying on map, compass and knowledge but checking the GPS. It had me out of position and would have put me down a cliff. Learn navigation.

seosamh.bsky.social
@seosamh.bsky.social

I was up Mt Washington in NH last week. Saw people slipping on the rocks in tennis shoes coming off the summit. People with no pack and a single water bottle. People wandering off trail, not knowing how to read their maps.

Radical Left Lemmasmith
@k8bowers.bsky.social

This is how we climbed there as a family when I was a kid. We probably didn’t go to the top, though! (And it was the 1970s, so we were also lots of kids in a station wagon with no seat belts. It was a time with a very different view on safety.)

Frau Sturmflut
@frausturmflut.bsky.social

All of that landscape seems to be only a backdrop for selfies. Plus people overestimating their abilities and being too lazy to properly plan their "adventures". As if this was just their private Disneyland.

BernardoVerda 🤔
@bernardoverda.bsky.social

"Climate change" as a cause doesn't surprise me. "Increased interest in outdoor activities post-covid" is something I might have thought of. Ditto "difference between climbing gyms vs real world." And regular "not respecting nature" is classic. But "people relying on ChatGPT" for hikes & climbs...?

Ashar
@sashariqbal.bsky.social

“Since about one year ago, many people have begun to think everything on ChatGPT is correct,” Vallata said. “It is not a tool for mountain advice, for routes, or for planning.”

Pandora
@pandybird.bsky.social

As someone that used to do this kind of stuff this is terrifying. We would read every book we could on a given route and if possible, take a guide. Also we would take several practice sessions with professionals before attempting things in the wild. And despite that we STILL almost died.

Pandora
@pandybird.bsky.social

I exaggerate, but only slightly. We had some major challenges come up on a wilderness route and had to face it and make difficult decisions in the wild. Later the park rangers told us we made all the right decisions, save 2. When the line between life and death is that thin you don’t play around.

Pandora
@pandybird.bsky.social

In detail, while me and some friends were out doing canyoneering in Zion national park, the rains started coming in, which meant flash floods. We wound up getting stuck in the canyons for extra time and didn’t get out until after dark.

Pandora
@pandybird.bsky.social

Our last rappel was into the virgin river, swelled from its usual 2-3 inches to 2-3 feet. We had to rappel 100 ft down a growing waterfall into this flooded raging river, and hike a 1/2 mile in the dark to the exit trail.

Nix
@nixjeelvy.bsky.social

I wonder if the propensity to retain control over your own decision-making process rather than relegating it to a robot has a genetic component or is it just downstream of high/low agreeableness or other character trait.

Dan Seitz
@dseitz.bsky.social

Almost certainly the latter. The pattern here is of people who have spent their entire lives halfassing things and depending on others to cover their mistakes, without even realizing it in some cases.