> If the software was updated so that the human lever pulling was replaced with a suitably advanced generative AI, nobody would notice. Nothing about the experience would change.
The experience would change for the person pulling the lever. My "so-called internet account" absolutely is related to a real person, and that person is me. Attacks on the account are experienced by me as attacks on me
> Attacks on the account are experienced by me as attacks on me
Right. This is the 'Redditization' of the world spoken of earlier, where an increasing number of people are unable to distinguish the difference between software and people, thereby treating them as if they are one and the same. Which, as it relates to the broader topic, is problematic as they are not the same and that introduces all kinds of social issues out in the real world.
Logically, you know that the LLM behind the arbitrary forum account that attacked you is little more than a fancy random number generator, which is no more significant than a squirrel giving you the side-eye, but as you have anthropomorphized it as being human then you start to see it differently and experience it as if it were a person.
But to anthropomorphize it is flawed. Like seeing Google Maps as being the world[1].
The experience would change for the person pulling the lever. My "so-called internet account" absolutely is related to a real person, and that person is me. Attacks on the account are experienced by me as attacks on me