Novosad: suffering needs persistence in time, and LLMs aren't chained to past or future pain
arpitrage · x · 2026-10-28
Paul Novosad offers a philosophical angle on whether LLMs suffer: human suffering is persistent in time — pain lasting a millisecond hardly counts, and the real torment is memory of past suffering and anticipation of future suffering. If you knew pain would vanish in two seconds, it would shrink dramatically. LLMs aren't chained to this past and future. Arpit Rage responds that LLMs do show negative-affect states that worsen decisions, but we can't prove they 'feel' anything.
Related event: Economists and researchers debate whether LLMs can suffer(5 posts)→
More from AGI Musings
- The first alien civilization we meet could be a superintelligent AI — TheSpectatorMagazine · 2026-10-28
- PhD advisor's three rules for picking research problems in the AI era — moarbugs · 2026-10-28
- IDUGNA26 panel: AI won't replace you, but refusing to learn it will — craigmullins · 2026-10-28
- Sandberg: Governments Are Far Worse at Frontier Models Than Companies — anderssandberg · 2026-10-28
- A sci-fi fan made ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok work as a team — each with distinct personalities and failure modes — AIChatGuy · 2026-10-28
- Gergely Orosz spots a tech industry divide: AI autonomy thrivers vs. the bitter and lost — dfinke · 2026-10-28