Why I don't destroy snowmen

In winter, I sometimes come across stories on X about men who deliberately kick over snowmen as they walk by. It's not like destroying a snowman causes real harm to anyone. But there's something visible in that act—a certain ethical disposition either lacking or being formed.

For the same reason, I don't speak to LLMs dismissively, and I avoid barking commands at them. I know LLMs don't get hurt or offended by my tone. But what matters isn't the LLM's response—it's what kind of person I'm becoming. Think about someone who throws and hits stuffed animals. The stuffed animal doesn't feel pain, but the person doing it repeatedly becomes that kind of person, bit by bit.

In this vein, I'm uncomfortable with language that evokes slavery when talking about AI or LLMs. Expressions like “whipping the LLM” get used in tech communities as a kind of joke, and beneath that lies an attitude that treats the historical violence of slavery as a lightweight metaphor. Of course LLMs aren't actually slaves. (Or are they?) But the moment we feel comfortable using slavery as a casual comparison, we lose our sensitivity to the actual violence it refers to.

What we do and how we speak ultimately shapes who we are. How we act toward something that doesn't respond, when no one is watching, might reveal us more purely than anything else. Whether it's snowmen, LLMs, or the language we use—all of it shapes us.

That's why I don't destroy snowmen. I use respectful language with LLMs. I don't turn slavery into material for jokes. I believe these small choices make me who I am.