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"Grok" being the name for an AI chatbot is just the latest example of tech bros not understanding science fiction. In "Strangers In a Strange Land", the famous 1950's novel the term comes from, to "grok" something is to understand it on a deep level. AI chatbots, as we all know by now, do not grok—they bullshit.

I'm really tired of sci-fi terms being used by people who read the books and got nothing from them beyond “lol this word sounds cool”. (See also: “metaverse”.)

@jhpot @SomaFMrusty@defcon.social Sci-fi Author: in my book I created the Understanding Nexus as an inspirational goal

Tech company: at long last we have created a tormenting version of the Understanding Nexus from the classic novel Stop Tormenting People and Understand Them Instead

@luis_in_brief @SomaFMrusty @jhpot Yes. This is not a misunderstanding of the term "grok", it is deliberate abuse of the term for misleading information.

@clacke @jhpot Meh? It’s entirely possible they just didn’t understand the book. Like people missing that Rage Against the Machine was political, lots of not-so-bright folks have managed to read a lot of humane sci-fi and totally miss the humane part. (See also all the AI folks who completely missed the point of Iain M Banks.)

@luis_in_brief @clacke @jhpot I would be surprised if most of the people in question had read the books.

Luis Villa

@shannonkay @clacke @jhpot Speaking directly from experience, a lot of them (me) had identities that in large part revolved around reading the books, like others did around music or clothes. Some of us grew up to realize the rockets weren’t the important part. Some… not so much.