this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2026
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I asked Claude for authors similar to Mearsheimer and Carl Schmitt, ones that have the same observations on the vapidness of international law but don’t come to rightwing conclusions. 

Then I mentioned the general collapse of credibility in the system, and how power can reestablish (and has in the past reestablished) this credibility. The answer came basically down to that credibility does not need to be established so long as there is no alternative, so long as the disillusioned don’t organize. 

Then as a joke I asked if this conversation puts me on a list and got the answer that, no Anthropic doesn’t share anything with governments (ofc), on top of that I don’t even need to be put on a list, the very fact that I ask the question means I’m a spineless lib that is no danger to anyone (fair enough).

I guess my question would be if anyone knows interesting authors that deal with these topics. And if using Claude this way is stupid, I personally find it very useful to discover new authors (or find very specific products or places, and internet search has become completely useless in general), but I don‘t want to share to much of my private thoughts with the company that brought you the targeting for the Iran war, nor do I want to be influenced too much by them in what I read…

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[–] WhatDoYouMeanPodcast@hexbear.net 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

"the fact that you would even ask" is a templated response for anxieties. It's a cantrip, a minor spell that requires the suspension of disbelief.

I would sooner believe that I came up with the idea that I'm a lib myself insofar as I want to avoid the illusion that I'm having a 2 way conversation. I treat an LLM like (radioactive) clay. You can mold clay into a swastika or a middle finger, but it didn't think of being hateful.

What's more compelling, if anything about them can be, is molding it into something useful. The book recommendations, for one. I remember asking for recs in a field I'm familiar with and going, "yeah, that's reasonable." Software that you'd have had to pay for. Got me out of a pimch. How to fix a leak or put together a computer. Made me more handy. But a thought/opinion made out of clay? At best it can recommend you go see for yourself. But without that it is, and from what I see there is a professional consensus, an epistemological dead end.