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you could maybe argue human creation of artefacts transmits fallen nature but I don’t buy it. computers, like animals, seem amoral

the real question is whether they’re capable of awe

Eric Kilby@saintnick912.bsky.social

I had heard that bears have a sense for scenery and natural beauty, but I was always skeptical. Until I saw this brown bear sitting on the shores of Crescent Lake seemingly admiring the sunset for a good 20-30 minutes. #photo #photography #wildlife #bears flic.kr/p/2qQfcDP

to start answering this kind of question you need to measure behavioral and not merely verbal signs of the target state (e.g. pain is a state that organisms avoid and try to get out of). i wonder what behaviors pick out awe!

in this context I’m using awe to mean religious wonder and the bliss attractor does resemble meditative religious discussion in response to awe (my intuition is for the corresponding internal state to not be there, e.g. I don’t think this has ever been observed in reaction to wonderful stimulus)

to actually point at behaviours, in people it’s like altruism, new/stronger beliefs, confidence and acting in spite of other instincts, reduced base desires, artistic expression, stillness and rest in presence extrapolating the experience in bears from that last one is a stretch obv

and phrased like this I think it’s more likely there’s an enlightenment vector in LLMs which interperability can read/manipulate, although it’s very possible a religiosity circuit would instead reflect a negative cultural halo and undesirable behaviours