"Melted sand cannot be conscious": AI pundits clash over banning users for cruelty to Claude
Scobleizer · x · 2026-10-09
Scobleizer responds to Shiri Ariel's critique of Anthropic banning users for being "cruel" to Claude. Shiri argues that policing cruelty to an AI implicitly admits it can feel pain—either Claude is secretly conscious or alignment teams have lost touch. Scoble counters that "melted sand cannot be conscious" and "you cannot abuse linear algebra," reserving consciousness for biological beings—until BCIs arrive, when things get messy.
Related event: "Melted sand has no consciousness": debate rages over abusing AI(3 posts)→
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