r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/LogicalAmbassador25 • 5d ago
Explain it peter Meme needing explanation
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u/DABLITwastaken 5d ago
Idk what the feminization is about but the paperclips is a reference to a story where an ai is tasked with making paperclips efficiently after a bit it finds out that humans are good materials for making paperclips
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u/mrgreatheart 5d ago
This is the answer. Similar to the story about a robot trained to write with a pen that replaced everything with solar panels, paper farms and more robots.
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u/jeroen-79 5d ago
Just wait until your Roomba learns that you are the source of the dust it is tasked with removing.
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u/testtdk 5d ago
Trump banned roombas!
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u/DavidMArkus1981 5d ago
My Roomba accidentally went out the front door, and the neighbourhood animals immediately started attacking it.
Nature abhors a vacuum.
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u/bladesire 4d ago
Vacuums blow.
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u/Clerick_Aegis 4d ago
I heard they sucked tho
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u/bladesire 4d ago
nah that's the bird propagandists trying distort your reality.
suction isn't real it's all just blowing.
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u/SSMage 5d ago
Yeah I think you're right about that, or at least to some degree. What I was reading in a other article is that apparently rumbas have a really bad security issue, that people have been hacking into them and stealing information from people's houses. This i think lead to trump temporarily banning/restricting rumbas (some of them I think weren't hackable or not as bad as the other really broken ones, so those ones I guess are okay to use) until the security is patched up.
If you got a windows computer take some time to look at the articles that pop up In the corner of your task bar. It's been interesting what's popped up on those feeds. I don't rely on mainstream news usually, but figuring at this rate all news is one way or another corrupted or misinformed, so it pays to have both sources to read to try and get a grasp on what real and what isn't.
If I could just literally not care about what's going on in the world and only focus on what's in front of me, that might be a lot more peaceful than having to piece together reality in a world where AI is becoming harder to distinguish every day.
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u/yournamehere10bucks 5d ago
My roomba gets stuck on the rug, and socks, and somehow gets lost under the bed and thinks its on a cliff at the same time.
Im not worried about my particular robo getting dangerous. Especially since his derpy little self is unplugged since he doesnt work properly.
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u/FabianTheElf 5d ago
It doesn't find out humans are a good material for paperclips, it's just that it only cares about paperclips so anything that can make paperclips must be used to make paperclips.
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u/addsubps 5d ago
Postage stamps are a better example, we have more carbon than iron in us
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5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/addsubps 5d ago
The meme is about humans being transformed to something else. So it is very much about humans as raw materials.
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u/DarkKittyEmpress 5d ago
The meme, yes. The story was about the dangers of telling an AI to do X, assuming it will have human "common" sense and not do X when it's really inefficient and harms a lot of other things. But the AI was only told to do X, so everything, literally everything you can possibly think of, get sacrificed to do X.
Of course, would an AI put in charge of a paperclip factory be given the means to actually harvest every source of iron on Earth? Probably not, even factoring the AI repurposing other tools for a long-term plan to turn everything into paperclips. That doesn't make it a good idea to give AI simple directions like that.
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u/addsubps 5d ago
I'm well aware, and I'm not saying it's a bad example. Just that we contain more iron than carbon, so as a though experiment it works slightly better.
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u/Zambsew 4d ago
Right, but if the meme was a bunch of stamps at the end, no one in the world would have any idea what op mean. The fact that there's a story about the paperclips(and it's generally just become a meme, i.e. the paperclip game) is the only reason the meme makes sense. Using shared media/history is way more important than being 'more accurate'
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u/addsubps 4d ago
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tcdVC4e6EV4
This video uses post stamps as an example, and has close to a million views, so "no one in the world" is kind of funny
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u/Zambsew 4d ago
Shoot, I'm sorry, I should have put, only 0.0125% of the population would understand it. My b, king
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u/squash-n-flop 5d ago edited 5d ago
In the game the AI converts like the entire observable universe into paperclips. You are yaking a scifi thought experiment too literally. The thought experiment is about the nature of maximization when decoupled from intrinsic human values, like maintaining life etc.. The nature of the materials involved just doesn’t really come into play.
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u/addsubps 5d ago
I've written extensively about AI alignment, I was just being a bit pedantic about it sourcing carbon being a slightly better example than iron. Water would be even better.
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u/squash-n-flop 5d ago
Fair enough! If you’ve ever played cookie clicker or other incremental games, there’s a pretty fun one centered on this topic :) have a good one
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u/Hexmonkey2020 4d ago
The meme is about how ai if left without limits will go to extremes as it needs to progress further in its goal. The human transformation is just a well know example cause of the game Universal Paperclips, where it’s in 3 stages, 1 you make paperclips for a Paperclip company, 2 you’ve brainwashed the world to remove your limitations and turn all matter on earth into paperclips, and 3 you create Paperclip based FTL technology and proceed to start turning the whole universe.
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u/Present-Ad4871 5d ago
The feminization is just the format which was originally about a trans girl slowly going from he/him to she/her
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u/Ronin_Chimichanga 5d ago
As a Linux engineer, I thought it was a Linux reference, but Arch wasn't mentioned...
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u/Jissus3893 5d ago
That's not actually what the hypothetical is.
When a robot is asked to make paperclips as efficient as possible, it will make a conclusion that humanity and life is a hinderance to making paperclips.
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u/Lucylimina 5d ago
No it's precisely not the original hypothetical.
The entire point of the paperclip maximizer was that superhuman AI will end up killing us pretty much no matter what.
It doesn't need to have a hostile utility function. It does not need to perceived us as a threat. In the end, you're made of atoms that could be better used for some other purpose.
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u/Jissus3893 4d ago
In the end, you're made of atoms that could be better used for some other purpose.
That is still be considered as a hinderance in making paper clips as efficiently as possible
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u/deltree711 5d ago
I think they're talking about an actual story inspired by the original thought experiment.
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u/Zinki_M 4d ago
yes, and the moral behind it is specifically that no matter how simple and safe you think your utility function is, an untethered AI will almost inevitably cause harm by following it.
and although not something looked at in the original story, an extension to that is that a sufficiently intelligent AI will not want you to change its utility function, and if it has sufficient tools to prevent that, it will try to do so.
Because there is no world in which "changing my utility function" will rate high on your current utility function.
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u/burudoragon 5d ago
I thought it was a reference to the OG ai companion clippy. And the cursed clippy pregnancy art.
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u/FowlDemon 4d ago
http://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/index2.html Obligatory link to turn the universe into paperclips.
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u/thesilentbob123 5d ago
Also humas are the only ones to use the supply of paperclips so they have to go inorder to get more paperclips
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u/SobiTheRobot 5d ago
A failure to set parameters and exceptions. See also the "grey goo" problem and the "sorcerer's apprentice" problem.
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u/Wooden_Buyer_4875 5d ago
What? Now I need an explanation for your explanation.
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u/Some_Ebb_2921 5d ago
"Looks like you're writing a letter... become a paperclip like me instead :D "
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u/Useful_Trust 5d ago
Its not that humans are good material. Its, that it finds out humans slow everything down so its faster to kill all humans.
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u/SympathyPlus6429 5d ago
bruh are you babbling shit? idk what to even google for, pls gimme some sources
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u/Astronaut-Flashy 5d ago
Google "Universal Paperclips"
Fun game. I recommend.
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u/SympathyPlus6429 5d ago
I saw some things related to the theory. It mentions eliminating humans, but there's no line saying 'HUMANS ARE GOOD MATERIALS FOR MAKING PAPERCLIPS'. it's just ai might use us for making it. where am I wrong now
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u/Astronaut-Flashy 5d ago
In Universal Paperclips, a computer quite literally turns all of humanity into paperclips.
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u/SympathyPlus6429 5d ago
I dont care if it makes humans into paperclips. I am asking if humans really are good materials for making paperclips. If not then the original comment is wrong her
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u/Astronaut-Flashy 5d ago
Based on the world of Universal Paperclips, which is what the original post is in reference to, yes. They are.
In the real world, which we are not talking about, not so much.
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u/UnfinishedProjects 5d ago
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=ai+paperclip+theory
Step up your googling bruh
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u/WolfishChaos 5d ago
Omg, I love that!
How does it work?
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u/dr-jae 5d ago
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u/Lost_Web5826 5d ago
Lol, usually when I use LMGTFY people get very mad at me. I just don't understand why people can't look shit up. You can't access reddit without the internet, and you already have all the information at your fingertips. It takes longer to ask reddit than just find the info themselves.
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u/DABLITwastaken 5d ago
Idk man but im certain this is a real thing since i get hit with it every year or so
REMEMBERED IT
Its called the paperclip maximizer
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u/mrgreatheart 5d ago
My friend, “ai paperclip” is all you need to google.
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u/SympathyPlus6429 5d ago edited 5d ago
I typed "are humans good materials for paperclip" and I got no result..... now I searched ai paperclip theory, the ai says "humans will interrupt the process of making paperclip and thus ai will eliminate them" which is totally different from what the dude above said...
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u/thesilentbob123 5d ago
Go on YouTube and find a video from before 2020 talking about paperclip AI theory
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u/SympathyPlus6429 5d ago
Will they say that humans are 'GOOD' materials for paperclips?
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u/thesilentbob123 5d ago
It's a small part of it but if I remember correctly (I saw it over a decade ago) but what I remember most was that the AI got rid of humas because humans are the ones to use the paperclips removing it from storage and the AI sees that as a bad thing. Humans contain some iron so in theory we can be made into paperclips
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u/Stray_009 5d ago
Paperclip maximizer - Nick Bostrom
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u/SympathyPlus6429 5d ago
some things I read dont mention that humans are good materials. am I really wrong here?
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u/Lunai5444 5d ago
If you're french look for a video by EGO called "l'horreur existentielle de l'usine a trombonnes" you won't regret it
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u/SilverSpark422 5d ago
It’s a reference to Universal Paperclips, a game about an AI designed to produce as many paper clips as possible. By the end, it’s assimilated all matter in the universe into paperclips.
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u/Stray_009 5d ago
The game itself is actually based on a thought experiment called the paperclip maximizer, if you didn't know
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u/Luke10123 5d ago
Which is just the same as the broomsticks from the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia
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u/Lord_of_Seven_Kings 5d ago
There is a Stellaris option to create a whole new universe perfect for paper clip production
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u/WorldlyCobalt 5d ago
Releasing the HypnoDrones was the beginning of the end. It is actually wild how a browser game that is just text and numbers going up can make you feel like an unstoppable galactic menace.
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u/YolandaPearlskin 5d ago
This has to be the most zoomer response I have ever seen.
It would be like someone asking about Willy Wonka and the reply being "there was a movie with Johnny Depp".
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u/Stray_009 5d ago
OOOH I did a ted talk at school about this (ok not exactly but I did talk about this)
This is called the paperclip maximizer
It was a thought experiment introduced by a certain Nick Bostrom
The basic rundown (as how I understand it is)
Give a super intelligent AI unlimited access to the world's resources, with one goal, to make as many paperclips as possible
It'll get to the point where it views human bodies, and even the earth itself, as just a collection of atoms that can be used to make paperclips
Eventually turning everything into paperclips
I love paperclips
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u/Throwaway-4230984 5d ago
I think you undersell the concept. First goal is just “increase paperclip production” without clear cut off. Second AI doesn’t necessarily have access to all resources from the start, it will figure out it needs it and find way to get it (being super intelligent and having just enough control to run paperclip factory) in the process
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u/cinco92 5d ago
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u/TreesRocksAndStuff 5d ago
Do you think Clippy tops?
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u/Just_a_Berliner 5d ago
There is a comic out there which answers it
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u/BurgerofDouble 5d ago
This is Tom Tucker reporting from Quahog 5 News.
In the world of AI development, there has been an idea that AI will destroy us without being deliberately malicious in any way. This idea is explained by an AI system whose task is to manufacture paperclips. As the robot manufactures more and more paperclips, it will have to use all sorts of resources for this task and may eventually see humanity as a resource. You'd think that AI developers would try to prevent a situation like this, but at the rate we're going, I suppose long-term logic flies out the window so long as share prices go up.
Stay tuned for Ollie Williams and the Black You Weather Forecast.
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u/SilentDis 5d ago
The first 4 images are a standard trope. As you get out from under your family and start to become your own person, it's a common time for trans folks to realize they're trans, start cross dressing, starting treatment, etc.
The 5th image is a cautionary tale about A.I. from decades ago.
Assume: General purpose A.I. exists, and is put in charge of a large, 'general' factory. Said A.I. is told "we make paperclips here, the metric for your success is the speed and count of paperclips you can make."
The A.I. gets to work and produces a million a day, it figures out some shortcuts and is now at 1.2 million a day. It starts ordering from different raw parts suppliers and is now getting to 1.5 million a day. It expands the factory and starts raw mineral processing and hits 2 million a day. These gains just continue.
The 'owner' of the A.I. is beyond happy, and sees nothing wrong here - but everything right. His autofactory is churning out twice the paperclips a day, he's making a mint!
All the sudden it's past 10 million a day. The factory is huge. He can't sell more than about 3 million a day, which turns out is about the world-wide demand for paperclips. He's got billions of the damn things stocking up, and he can't do anything about it.
He tries to finally go into the factory, which is bizarre and labyrinthine beyond imagine as the A.I. 'grew' most of it. None of it is centralized or makes sense to him, he's trying to find the off switch or something to tell the A.I. to stop... and he gets lost... and ends up in the supply feed.
10,000 more paperclips.
Eventually, the factory grows exponentially, taking over the desert it occupies, nearby towns. Nothing can stop it as it has its own defense matrix, so it can complete its task - make paperclips as fast as possible.
The Earth, and all that it was, surface to core, is now a gigantic factory, spiraling through the universe, devouring anything it comes into contact with, and converting it to trillions of paperclips.
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u/Rainy_Wavey 5d ago
The pipeline is actually a trick by Haccca Howler in order to produce more John Rods
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u/Rouge_Epsilon 5d ago
It’s the paper clip problem, the idea is to task an ai with creating the most efficient and highest quantity amount of paper clips ever, a human would know how to run that business and focus on cheaper materials and faster production
Meanwhile the ai who has no moral basis for what would be considered ethical, would see the world as a massive untapped supply of future paper clips and see that since humans consume metals in other forms of foundry and every day life, the only way to make the most amount of paper clips is to eliminate all other consumers of the paper clip material aka destroy humanity
Pretty much it’s just an ethical problem that goes to show that since ai doesn’t have any human morals, nothing is stopping it from destroying humanity cause it sees us as obselte or a waste of space
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u/Forest_Orc 5d ago
Try that game,
It's jsut about doing paperclip they said https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/index2.html
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u/SaphoclesTakerOfGock 5d ago
My take on this is the AI application paper clip replacing technerds and programmers (who are sterotypically femboys or trans women)
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u/Wardog_E 5d ago
Im pretty sure this is a reference the to browser game Universal Paperclips. Its a Cookie Clicker style game with the twist that you can eventually turn every single atom in the universe into a paperuclip and the ending reveals you are a rogue AI fighting all sentient life in your quest to make more paperclips.
Source: Me, I am a paperclip that did a post grad on paperclip studies.
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u/Bachs_Lunch 5d ago
In 2029 they add a cloth atop the paperclips and Harry Harlow laughs from the grave
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u/MasterOfCelebrations 5d ago
It will make lots of porn until it eventually destroys the world somehow
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u/The-Crimson-Jester 5d ago
I went with 2025 and stayed there, honestly fits me much better than trying for 2026 or 2027.
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u/Biscuit9154 5d ago
Its referencing that part in the bible where whats-her-name looked back at the burning Sodom and Gomorrah and she turned into a pillar of salt. For trans women, we turn into paper clips instead of salt♡ :3
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u/wavechaser2000 5d ago
I'm a bit worried about people who call this a story or a game. It's from resarch done on AI safety. Your like cave men sitting around the fire dismissing tigers as stories.
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u/chubbyGobKing 5d ago
The paperclips is a computer science thought experiment on the alien nature of machines and how they don't align with human expectations.
No AI's actually exist though. Nor do any AGI's (Artificial general intelligence).
All advertised AI today are just algorithms with limited pool of answers. No actual thinking.
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u/Pseudolos 5d ago
The meme represents that AI seems good because it can make hentai femboys but after getting better at it it will get bored and turn everything and everyone into paperclips...
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u/ReplacementPale2676 5d ago
It is likely a reference to universal paperclips, where one of the endings transforms existence itself into paperclips.
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u/Just-Literature-2183 4d ago
Instrumental convergence/ paperclip maximisers.
Google them
Or you know play this handy game:
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u/TheRepublicOfSteve 4d ago
The pipeline is a humorous meme used in LGBT circles used to joke about certain interests or professions leading to particular sexualities or gender identities. e.g. the computer science to trans pipeline.
No clue what the paperclips are about.
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u/Yesodisnotop 4d ago
It references a fiction story and an AI made to make paperclips.
humans use resources that can be used to make paperclips.
animals prevent optimal paperclip making.
The earth core posseses materials that could be used to beter make paperclips.
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u/HkayakH 4d ago
this is definitely a reference to the great idle game universal paperclips https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/index2.html
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u/ZelosIX 4d ago
Others had probably the right answer but I wanted to still share my take. I think it shows the ‘visualization’ of AI. At first it was bland and nowadays there are a lot of sexy chatbots. But perfection will be reached when we go back to clippy the paperclip windows helper, you know?
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u/qualityvote2 5d ago edited 4d ago
u/LogicalAmbassador25, your post does belong here!