Simpler example: here’s what is effectively an XTT-style reply using only a single lexeme. This shorthand is already pervasive in twitter discourse, so hopefully that helps explain the concepthttps://twitter.com/ctzn5/status/988458356452061184?s=21 …
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so, on the XTT metathread side: let's talk memes, lexemes, and millennials (or really, gen Z if you make that distinction)
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First, let me give you one of my favorite quotes. For one thing, because it's funny, tech-centric, and will feel familiar:pic.twitter.com/9bLgvakkZC
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Babbage, of course, was the inventor of the computer, before anyone knew that was a thing. Phrased that way because his was mechanical. Another thing that Babbage did, long before it was a thing, was the single-lexeme quote-tweet reply.
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Wait, where is the lexeme? Well, English 200 years ago didn't have a word for this lexeme yet. For that, we have to translate it into millennial.
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"…I can't even." —Charles Babbage (1837)pic.twitter.com/TdHzZ54fAY
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Replying to @CTZN5
autistic Babbage, they were trying to ask how the machine handles user mistakes or smth
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Replying to @_thls_
no the joke is that these people both held the implicit prior that the machine had intelligence
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i mean that's what the joke is supposed to be. i wasn't there, who knows
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anyway Babbage was the operator, he'd do a show, explain how it worked, and during the Q&A after, the idea is he found spectators sometimes insisted on apparently conferring intelligence onto the machine, despite his explanations. that's how i've always heard the story
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I think you're right about what the original context was. With a decade of programming work under my belt now that poorly phrased question brings to mind a possible paraphrase though: "Babbage, is this thing bug free or what?"
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