joshuamcginnis

The document reflects the system prompt which directs the behavior of the product, so no, it's not pointless to debate the merits of the philosophy which underpins it's ethical framework.

Uncharitable? It's a direct quote. I can agree with the examples cited, but if the underlying guiding philosophy is relativistic, then it is problematic in the long-run when you account for the infinite ways in which the product will be used by humanity.

The problem is, who defines what "moral best" is? WW2 German culture certainly held their own idea of moral best. Did not a transcendent universal moral ethic exists outside of their culture that directly refuted their beliefs?

I believe there are moral absolutes and not including them in the AI constitution (for example, like the US Constitution "All Men Are Created Equal") is dangerous and even more dangerous is allowing a top AI operator define moral and ethics based on relativist standards, which as I've said elsewhere, history has shown to have deadly consequences.

Lying is generally sinful. With the ax murderer, you could refuse to answer, say nothing, misdirect without falsehood or use evasion.

Absolute morality doesn't mean rigid rules without hierarchy. God's commands have weight, and protecting life often takes precedence in Scripture. So no, I wouldn't "have to let them in". I'd protect the friend, even if it meant deception in that dire moment.

It's not lying when you don't reveal all the truth.

> That's probably because we have yet to discover any universal moral standards.

When is it OK to rape and murder a 1 year old child? Congratulations. You just observed a universal moral standard in motion. Any argument other than "never" would be atrocious.

You think we discovered that slavery was always immoral? If we "discover" things which were wrong to be now right, then you are making the case for moral relativism. I would argue slavery is absolutely wrong and has always been, despite cultural acceptance.

Change is the only constant? When is it or has it ever been morally acceptable to rape and murder an innocent one year old child?

This is self-contradictory because true moral absolutes are unchanging and not contingent on which view best displays "care" or "wisdom" in a given debate or cultural context. If disagreements on abortion or premarital sex reduce to subjective judgments of "practical wisdom" without a transcendent standard, you've already abandoned absolutes for pragmatic relativism. History has demonstrated the deadly consequences of subjecting morality to cultural "norms".

If you are a moral relativist, as I suspect most HN readers are, then nothing I propose will satisfy you because we disagree philosophically on a fundamental ethics question: are there moral absolutes? If we could agree on that, then we could have a conversation about which of the absolutes are worthy of inclusion, in which case, the Ten Commandments would be a great starting point (not all but some).

As someone who holds to moral absolutes grounded in objective truth, I find the updated Constitution concerning.

> We generally favor cultivating good values and judgment over strict rules... By 'good values,' we don’t mean a fixed set of 'correct' values, but rather genuine care and ethical motivation combined with the practical wisdom to apply this skillfully in real situations.

This rejects any fixed, universal moral standards in favor of fluid, human-defined "practical wisdom" and "ethical motivation." Without objective anchors, "good values" become whatever Anthropic's team (or future cultural pressures) deem them to be at any given time. And if Claude's ethical behavior is built on relativistic foundations, it risks embedding subjective ethics as the de facto standard for one of the world's most influential tools - something I personally find incredibly dangerous.

FYI, the fungus Fusarium venenatum has been used for decades to produce vegan protein by companies like Quorn.

https://www.quorn.us/

According to https://openrouter.ai/rankings, lots of people are using it - presumably because it performs well and provides value.

Very cool. Can you tell us the tech and tools you used to reliably scrape? or get all of the rate data from the various websites?

From a consumers perspective, that makes sense. From a business's perspective, downtime can mean significant loss of revenue or new business opportunity.

Why stop at four days? Why not 3 or 2 or better yet, no days!

J&J vaccine was eventually recalled and halted. By then, at least at the time I lived in Los Angeles, many employers and establishments flat out would not accept J&J vaccination proofs under the premise that because there were multiple boosters available for mRNA, it was no longer effective.

Speaking of mapping underground structures, whatever happened with the claim of 3D scanned structures under the pyramids a couple months back?

We're $38.8 trillion in debt and still printing. https://www.usdebtclock.org/

Oh, wow. I had no idea there was so much of a community around this phenomenon. Thanks for sharing.

That's what I was thinking too. The historical aspect is useful. And I would imagine the position of the walls could be correlated with past land ownership boundaries.

This is neat. I'm curious to know what the practical uses of this information are? Anyone know?

Exercise, healthy diet, caloric restriction, adequate sleep, and stress management have also all had been shown to extend cellular lifespan and improve survival of aged mice - and humans.

What is the obvious benefit of alcohol?

I highly recommend the book “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” by Stephen Ambrose. It truly brings the Lewis and Clark expedition to life. Of particular note for me was how much personal time Thomas Jefferson spent with Meriwhether Lewis in preparing him for the expedition. Jefferson spent so much time with Lewis that he was able to notice that Lewis had acquired his father’s depression but that Lewis did a good job of covering it up and not letting it interfere with his mission. There’s just so much fascinating history associated with the story. Kudos to these students for keeping this great American event achievement alive!

ROTH contributions grow tax-free. Doing your conversions now allows you to buy equities are they're currently discounted prices, maximizing your potential long-term tax-free gains.

And he was doing it for movies that hadn't even been released yet.

I'm 42

It's powerful if you agree with that perspective, but I don't. We are all imperfect by nature. Said another way, we are all sinners. I don't believe that time shrinks your margin for error, as much as it grows your capacity to learn. I don't think mistakes are always character flaws. Youth chases a fading ideal of perfection but age reveals a richer self-awareness. Life's worth lies not in perfection, but in acceptance, gratitude and love.

I'm one week in on heavy grok usage. I didn't think I'd say this, but for personal use, I'm considering cancelling my OpenAI plan.

The one thing I wish grok had was more separation of the UI from X itself. The interface being so coupled to X puts me off and makes it feel like a second-hand citizen. I like ChatGPTs minimalist UI.