## quick idea - I constantly throw in phrases like 'think very hard', spend 15 minutes thinking before giving me your answer' these are phrases that work because of the meaning they have in the real speaking community, hmmm.. ## [[Exhaustive Compilation]] of Phrases and [[Detailed Essay Plan]]: Nontology ## [[Complete Phrase Inventory]] from [[Your Responses]] ## [[Core Phenomenological Descriptions]] • "the realisation that as I interact with LLMs in my life" • "so much of the text I read had no intent behind it" • "just the token predictor doing its thing" • "I know it is more complex than that obviously" • "I do not believe LLMs in their [[current state]] have any sort of [[mental state]]" • "now so much of text I read without have any sort inclination to think that there is a person" • "I don't have any human feelings towards it" • "it is interestingly mundane" • "nontology is not even feeling the eeriness, perhaps?" • "that's an interesting thread to pull" • "i like [[the idea]] of llms becoming mundane" • "i am not sure what I think either way of this subject" ## Navigation and [[Control Language]] • "something to navigate or control" • "something entirely detached from an actual agent" • "we may treat it as an agent sporadically" • "we know the rules of using words to get certain responses" • "(especially if we have an inkling that the LLM is HHH assistant)" • "we do not worry about chatgpt at night" • "or think we killed a particular instance of him when you deleted the chat" • "this isn't rick and morty" ## [[The Cheapness]] of Text • "I have no interest in any of those guys. at all." • "I have always liked the core idea of hauntology" • "what I am trying to describe as regards LLM text is somewhat influenced by that" • "as I answer these questions I am starting to think that maybe I am thinking about two sides of the same coin" • "i don't know" • "LLMs are making text so cheap and plentiful as to be mundane" • "this is not to say that llms necessarily produce mundane text or anything like it" • "i mean [[more than]] now text is so easily generatable" • "there is quite often now, that the text in front of your eyes was written by anyone in the sense we all meant it half a decade ago" • "As text spills across my screen text feels cheap" • "(think about all that text produced, all that text speeding past as chatgpt executes the five stage plan you gave it and then told it to double check)" ## Ownership and Authorship • "I don't think of it as collaboration" • "I don't parse the boundary" • "the only real way in which there not being an author of the other text is that I don't have to worry about copying, changing, switching using" • "it is still my text that i made appear" • "I like [[the idea]] of it having [[descriptive function]]" • "I think that is an obvious mischaracterisation of the [[temporal phenomenology]] of LLM interaction" ## [[Temporal Phenomenology]] • "yeah man of course!" • "if I am trying to characterise peoples experiences with LLMs right now" • "they watching this text unfold token by token" • "it is not appearing on the screen _as if somebody is actually typing_" • "there are no fits and starts" • "It seems obvious no one is there" • "because of that cursor speeding down the page" • "it's both eerie and mundane" • "maybe the eerie vs mundane is not a promising road to go down right now" • "let's leave it" • "i think hauntology would have the same dichotomy" • "so i don't think it is uniquely relevant to what i am talking about here" ## The Flower Metaphor and Assemblage • "I think of it as mine as much as I think of a flower that I grew is 'mine'" • "this is obviously not a very strong sense" • "that text can also be used in conjunction with other bits of text" • "some of which are mine and some of which aren't" • "it becomes more mine because of the role it plays" • "in what I am trying to do or create etc etc with an LLM" ## Historical Shift and Hauntology • "I guess here is a good way of articulating it" • "looking at text knowing that it is potentially machine generated" • "could potentially be accompanied by a feeling of absence" • "or, I guess, a feeling of the past" • "We have now moved beyond humans being the only ones generating coherent strings of words" ## The Brute Interaction • "not in any way I am that interested in right now to be honest" • "what i want to focus on here" • "just the brute interaction between us and this text" • "which we know are potentially unauthored" • "we interact with in a way which does not particularly treat the text as authored" • "text like this, and this sort of interaction" • "really quite increasingly, becoming part of at least some of our lives" • "this seems an important change" • "in how we in 2025 compared to even five years ago" ## Informal Markers and Tone • "btw" (multiple times) • "etc etc" • "yeah man of course!" • "to be honest" • "i don't know" • "I guess" • "perhaps?" • "let's leave it" ## Detailed Essay Structure with Phrase Integration ## Opening: The Double Recognition ## First paragraph - The historical claim: "More and more text of what we read and respond to was not produced by another person. This seems an important change in how we in 2025 compared to even five years ago." ## Second paragraph - The philosophical setup: "Nobody seriously thinks LLMs actually are agents, despite us treating them as such sporadically. We know the rules of using words to get certain responses (especially if we have an inkling that the LLM is HHH assistant). But we do not worry about chatgpt at night, or think we killed a particular instance of him when you deleted the chat. This isn't rick and morty." ## Third paragraph - The phenomenon to explore: "What i want to focus on here is just the brute interaction between us and this text, which we know are potentially unauthored, and we interact with in a way which does not particularly treat the text as authored." ## Part I: The Realisation (The Personal Discovery of Nontology) ## The moment of recognition: "It is more the realisation that as I interact with LLMs in my life, that so much of the text I read had no intent behind it, it was just the token predictor doing its thing." ## The philosophical caveat: "I know it is more complex than that obviously, but I do not believe LLMs in their current state have any sort of mental state." ## The affective dimension: "Now so much of text I read without have any sort inclination to think that there is a person, and I don't have any human feelings towards it. It is interestingly mundane." ## The theoretical question: "In a way, nontology is not even feeling the eeriness, perhaps? That's an interesting thread to pull. I like the idea of llms becoming mundane. I am not sure what I think either way of this subject." ## Part II: The Cursor Speeding Down the Page ## The phenomenological observation: "Yeah man of course! Right now, if I am trying to characterise peoples experiences with LLMs right now, they watching this text unfold token by token." ## The absence made visible: "It is not appearing on the screen _as if somebody is actually typing_, there are no fits and starts. It seems obvious no one is there, because of that cursor speeding down the page." ## The paradox: "It's both eerie and mundane." ## The philosophical restraint: "Maybe the eerie vs mundane is not a promising road to go down right now, let's leave it. I think hauntology would have the same dichotomy, so i don't think it is uniquely relevant to what i am talking about here." ## Part III: Text Becoming Cheap ## The economic metaphor: "There is the idea that LLMs are making text so cheap and plentiful as to be mundane." ## The careful distinction: "This is not to say that llms necessarily produce mundane text or anything like it." ## The historical rupture: "I mean more than now text is so easily generatable that there is quite often now, that the text in front of your eyes was written by anyone in the sense we all meant it half a decade ago." ## The overwhelming volume: "As text spills across my screen text feels cheap (think about all that text produced, all that text speeding past as chatgpt executes the five stage plan you gave it and then told it to double check)." ## Part IV: Navigation Without Collaboration ## The refusal of collaboration: "I don't think of it as collaboration. I don't parse the boundary." ## The instrumental relation: "It is just more like something to navigate or control, something entirely detached from an actual agent." ## The practical freedom: "The only real way in which there not being an author of the other text is that I don't have to worry about copying, changing, switching using." ## The claim of ownership: "It is still my text that i made appear." ## Part V: The Flower That I Grew ## The cultivation metaphor: "In some sense, I think of it as mine as much as I think of a flower that I grew is 'mine' – this is obviously not a very strong sense." ## The assemblage process: "That text can also be used in conjunction with other bits of text, some of which are mine and some of which aren't." ## The gradual ownership: "It becomes more mine because of the role it plays in what I am trying to do or create etc etc with an LLM." ## Part VI: The Hauntological Dimension ## The influence acknowledged: "I have always liked the core idea of hauntology, and what I am trying to describe as regards LLM text is somewhat influenced by that." ## The uncertainty: "Although as I answer these questions I am starting to think that maybe I am thinking about two sides of the same coin. I don't know." ## The feeling of absence: "I guess here is a good way of articulating it – looking at text knowing that it is potentially machine generated could potentially be accompanied by a feeling of absence, or, I guess, a feeling of the past." ## The historical marker: "We have now moved beyond humans being the only ones generating coherent strings of words." ## Part VII: Against Mischaracterisation ## The correction: "I think that is an obvious mischaracterisation of the temporal phenomenology of LLM interaction." ## What matters: "The way responses unfold token by token." ## The descriptive function: "I like the idea of it having descriptive function, as mentioned in the attached butlin and something paper." ## The anti-canonical stance: "I have no interest in any of those guys. At all." (regarding continental philosophers) ## Part VIII: The Brute Facts ## The focus: "Text like this, and this sort of interaction are, really quite increasingly, becoming part of at least some of our lives." ## The sporadic agency: "We may treat it as an agent sporadically, we know the rules of using words to get certain responses." ## The absence of concern: "We do not worry about chatgpt at night." ## The final emphasis: "This seems an important change." ## Closing: Living with Potentially Unauthored Text Return to the core insight about "the brute interaction between us and this text" and how "we interact with in a way which does not particularly treat the text as authored." End with the temporal marker: "This seems an important change in how we in 2025 compared to even five years ago." ## Tone Preservation Notes • Keep all instances of "I don't know" and "I guess" to maintain philosophical honesty • Preserve the casual interjections: "yeah man of course!", "btw", "etc etc" • Maintain the informal precision: "not in any way I am that interested in right now to be honest" • Keep the pop culture reference: "this isn't rick and morty" • Preserve the thinking-in-progress quality: "that's an interesting thread to pull" • Maintain the restraint: "let's leave it" • Keep the parenthetical asides: "(especially if we have an inkling that the LLM is HHH assistant)"