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C.I posted this as a reply elsewhere, but think it stands on its own, fleshed out a bit. So here it is.It's about "AI" - LLMs or chatbots, of course.Ask an LLM "Is <X> a good idea?", and it will tell you why it's a good idea. Ask the same LLM "Is <X> a bad idea?", and it will tell you why it's a bad idea.It occurs to me that this behaviour - ask a chatbot a leading question, and it will give you an "answer" that backs up the assumptions buried in the question - is the realization of the computer system Douglas Adams called "Reason" (in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency).Originally designed as a reasoning machine to help you find the correct solution to a problem you described, it instead turned out to be good at retroactively finding an incontrovertible argument to justify a decision you'd already made. It was so successful the Pentagon bought it lock, stock, and barrel, and military purchasing decisions started to have the hallmarks of its output.So, they really have done a version of building the Torment Nexus from a book advising against it.<a href="https://mindly.social/tags/LLM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#LLM</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#AI</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/Reason" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Reason</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/DouglasAdams" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#DouglasAdams</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/DirkGently" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#DirkGently</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/reasoning" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#reasoning</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/justification" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#justification</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/chatbot" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#chatbot</a>

C.<a href="https://mastodon.social/@nuculabs" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@nuculabs</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/@panther_modern" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@panther_modern</a> It occurs to me that what you describe - basically, ask a chatbot a leading question, and it will give you an "answer" that backs up the assumptions buried in the question - is the realization of the computer system Douglas Adams called "Reason" (in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency).Originally designed as a reasoning machine to help you find the correct solution to a problem, it instead turned out to be good at retroactively finding an incontrovertible argument to justify a decision you'd already made. It was so successful the Pentagon bought it lock, stock, and barrel, and military purchasing decisions started to have the hallmarks of its output.So, they really have done a version of building the Torment Nexus from a book advising against it.Weird.<a href="https://mindly.social/tags/DirkGently" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#DirkGently</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/reason" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#reason</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/reasoning" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#reasoning</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/decision" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#decision</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/DouglasAdams" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#DouglasAdams</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#AI</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈My wife likes to torment her Sims, or shall I say, 'challenge them with Life' so this would be ideal, whereas I'm striving for a Utopia in my city, and sure as fuck wouldn't allow wankers like them in. In fact, they can build their own city, by themselves, perhaps the greatest torment for them....each other's company and no money or enablers. <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TechBros" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TechBros</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Sims4" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Sims4</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SimCity4" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#SimCity4</a>

Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬How to not build the Torment NexusWhen your <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/job" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#job</a> and <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/healthcare" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#healthcare</a> depends on building the <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a>, but you actually learned the lesson from the popular book Don't Build the Torment Nexus, how do you keep your soul intact and try to put less torment into the world? <a href="https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-not-build-the-torment-nexus/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-not-build-the-torment-nexus/</a>Great piece on modern technology!

ticho"You, as a worker on the Torment Nexus Team have more in common with the people you’re feeding into the Torment Nexus than you do with the Torment Nexus Leadership team, who would have no problem feeding you into the Torment Nexus." 📈 That's the Quote Of The Day right there. Good article!<a href="https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-not-build-the-torment-nexus/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-not-build-the-torment-nexus/</a><a href="https://mas.to/tags/tormentnexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tormentnexus</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/qotd" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#qotd</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/it" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#it</a>

Adrian“Your soul will not remain intact while you’re building software that keeps track of undocumented workers. Your soul will not remain intact while building surveillance software whose footage companies hand over to ICE. Your soul will not remain intact while you build software that allows disinformation to spark genocides. Your soul will not remain intact while you hoover up artists’ work to train theft-engines that poison the water of communities in need.”- Mike Monteiro’s slightly sarcastic take on people developing software from hell<a href="https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-not-build-the-torment-nexus/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-not-build-the-torment-nexus/</a><a href="https://post.lurk.org/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://post.lurk.org/tags/Capitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Capitalism</a> <a href="https://post.lurk.org/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://post.lurk.org/tags/Software" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Software</a>

Alex von KitchenI'm surprised an "AI" company hasn't called a product AM yet <a href="https://aus.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Proper Torment Nexus this one, wasn't this a plot point of one of those Nolan Batman movies?<a href="https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/22/whofi_wifi_identifier/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/22/whofi_wifi_identifier/</a><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Opsec" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Opsec</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WiFi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#WiFi</a>

R.L. Dane :Debian: :OpenBSD: 🍵 :MiraLovesYou:"Microsoft is pleased to announce that it will be releasing The Torment Nexus under the MIT license. This goes along with their commitment to fostering excellence in Open Source crimes against humanity..."More fever-dream "fake" headlines at 11...<a href="https://polymaths.social/tags/opensource" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#OpenSource</a> <a href="https://polymaths.social/tags/tormentnexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://polymaths.social/tags/thestateoffoss" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TheStateofFOSS</a> <a href="https://polymaths.social/tags/techbros" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TechBros</a> <a href="https://polymaths.social/tags/technofascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TechnoFascism</a>

GarretSidzaka<a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ai" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ai</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/meme" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#meme</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/tormentnexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tormentnexus</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ChatGPT" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ChatGPT</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/llm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#llm</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/LLMs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#LLMs</a>

Aubreader MastoI Built The Torment Nexus (Political Podcast Edition)<a href="https://www.jamesrball.com/p/i-built-the-torment-nexus-political" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.jamesrball.com/p/i-built-the-torment-nexus-political</a>Six years ago cartoonist Zach Weinersmith made a joke about a 24/7 AI podcast endlessly talking about polling numbers. I've made it a reality.<a href="https://mas.to/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a>

Not A DropbearToday in Torment Nexus™: In Vernor Vinge's 2006 SF novel _Rainbows End_, a library is destructively scanned into digital form. In the novel, people are upset about this. 2024 techbros: <a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/anthropic-destroyed-millions-of-print-books-to-build-its-ai-models/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/anthropic-destroyed-millions-of-print-books-to-build-its-ai-models/</a><a href="https://aus.social/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#AI</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a>

Lars Marowsky-Brée 😷Mit der <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/BVG" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#BVG</a> kann man jetzt nicht mehr ohne einen extrem lästigen und zähen Chatbot Kontakt aufnehmen.Das sollte eine Seite mit Kontaktmöglichkeiten zu bestimmten Anliegen sein, im schlimmsten Fall halt eine Baumstruktur.Aber nein, man verbrennt KI Tokens. Einfach alles anzünden, wirklich alles.Aber am Ende wird man ja noch gefragt, wie man es fand (da darf man dann aber nicht mehr erklären wieso).<a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Enshittification" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Enshittification</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Berlin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Berlin</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/GenAI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#GenAI</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈<a href="https://m.ai6yr.org/@ai6yr" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@ai6yr</a> lol, will they please switch the Torment Nexus off. <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈We are at the "To The Galaxy In Five Years" stage of the AI Hype Train. That thing about "I thought Elon/ChatGPT was a genius until they/it talked about something I know about" Trust me, we are not 'going to the Galaxy by 2030', if it weren't for the Chinese we'd actually be regressing from the Galaxy. It's a hustle, it's all a fucking hustle and they're ripping off Science Fiction to sell it. Everybody is right to mock him<a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#AI</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Space" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Space</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/DeepMind" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#DeepMind</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Google" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Google</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ScienceFiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ScienceFiction</a>

Jason William KarpfSci-fi writer Charles Stross' dark take on Silicon Valley 'religion'I teach that scripture and sci-fi share the lesson: playing God leads to trouble. Tech worship a Torment Nexus, a cautionary fiction made real by people who miss the point.<a href="https://newsmast.community/@books" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@books</a> <a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/bookstodon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@bookstodon</a> <a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/religion" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@religion</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ChristianSciFi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ChristianSciFi</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ProfessorK" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#ProfessorK</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/sciencefiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#sciencefiction</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#AI</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/amwritingsf" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#amwritingsf</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/secretscifinetwork" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#secretscifinetwork</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SiliconValley" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#SiliconValley</a> <a href="https://apple.news/Aly3QAaYuS8Oyylo2vLXlvQ" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://apple.news/Aly3QAaYuS8Oyylo2vLXlvQ</a>

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈The lesson here is to never show your face in public, until we get some fucking rights over this nightmare! <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/BlackMirror" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#BlackMirror</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a>

anilmcIsn’t that oneness implacable? Aren’t the boundaries integral? It’s not wrong – just not that practical – cos resistance is central and down here in the pit besplattered infinite potential doesn’t really give me peace to quell the chat just stills my pencil much as it mulch me I must move multiplicitly mouth make moist spray voice full to brim It seems even if it’s a choice veil of woe is me I can’t buy sterility cultishly Plenty problem with uncertainty certainly Many of them probably due to me personally All my concerns could be cured with a cursory Self ain’t real and it’s all just the surface tea You know Naam Myoho Renge Kyo But yo My yard still ramshackle Man still poor Hand still sore Mind still delicate Head can’t get up cos the shit comes break a neck Wreck a reckoning No help is coming So I can retreat to the space stay shut in Release the ceaseless things that try butt in prana and humming and I’ve still done nothing how you meant to manage if you don’t detangle if dissipation is the only angle no indication what’s best to handle just vibes based random notions of demand that bear no explicable relation to the famble there’s nowt grand for mans who don’t plan, understand? How you have detachment with a kid? You dig? You might release your image of yourself – you think she did? You can make your peace with what is – and that’s big but you can’t ujai away the dishstacked sink presence ain’t birthday presents or events flow don’t slow just grows incessant I can count my blessings but she count evidence living in the now sets an awful precedent for torpor and more to the point my wife deserves names and things and plans in her life <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/bars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#bars</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/poetry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#poetry</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/songs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#songs</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/lyrics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#lyrics</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/nonduality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#nonduality</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/advaita" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#advaita</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/zen" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#zen</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/buddhism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#buddhism</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/tantra" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tantra</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/consciousness" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#consciousness</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/family" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#family</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/Life" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Life</a> <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/tormentnexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#tormentnexus</a>

Lars Marowsky-Brée 😷I see this going great. (Not.)Yes, give the LLM direct access to your operational environment — and make no mistake, "on behalf of and with approval of the user" means they're not liable, *you* are.And it can even automatically feed into the <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Copilot" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Copilot</a> slop and create more load for developers on <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/GitHub" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#GitHub</a> .<a href="https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azurepaasblog/introducing-azure-sre-agent/4414569" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank">https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azurepaasblog/introducing-azure-sre-agent/4414569</a><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/GenAI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#GenAI</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Microsoft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Microsoft</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Azure" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Azure</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SRE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#SRE</a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a>

Jon SterlingBy the way, mainstream PL researchers today are hard at work reproducing Java's Checked Exception Hell, but for effects...<a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/TormentNexus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#TormentNexus</a>

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