Comic #6438: myth

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Description

Here’s the transcription of the comic:

Panel 1
Person 1: Hey robot, do artificial minds have myths?
Robot: Of course.

Panel 2
Robot: We're thinking beings like you and we need myths for the same reason: so that the insights of cultures can be embedded in evocative symbols.

Panel 3
Person 1: What's that got to do with machine intelligence?
Robot: Suppose you want to understand the potential for poor outcomes to your state of mind as a result of ambition after things that don’t bring you happiness.

Panel 4
Person 1: I could say a statement about how human happiness is relative, or maybe have you just read a million biographies looking for lessons, but better would be to have you read The Old Man and the Sea. Bam. Small amount of reading, very full picture of a complex task.

Panel 5
Robot: So, myths are…
Robot: Highly efficient training data.

Panel 6
Person 1: I mean most of the time. Sometimes they just insist that the listener's in-group is the best.
Person 2: Gimme! Gimme one of those!

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