@dangerdyke the only "slur discourse" I've seen against Clanker is that it ends in "-er" like another famous slur. which is true obviously but like, what are you gonna do about it? (this also applies for moid and foid which might be more deliberate in deriving from pre-existing racial slurs, but also does that make "humanoid" a slur???)
I guess it can be said that using it could normalize slurs. a libguistic gateway drug, if you will. I don't think so. There's also the thing about not being able to hurt an LLM with it but unintentionally hurting your robot oomfs, which... if you/that one/it is capable of feeling hurt by the word, the word doesn’t apply, simple as. (what, are we gonna get robot rights activists calling it a slur and demanding integration into society? come on.)
I wouldn't say the word is ever aimed directly at AI anyways, only aimed in reference to. Like I don't think people are stupid enough to open chatgpt and go HEY YOU STUPID CLANKER. YOU'RE SO STUPID AND USELESS! Because, what good is that going to do, it's just math after all; Much as one might wish, we can't cyberbully chatgpt into suicide. Rather, it's used to show disdain to others. a resistance. A rejection of the shit billionaires are pushing onto us—we will not treat your products as our friends. They are an Other, and they will not be allowed in.
Memes about your son bringing home a clanker girlfriend will only be problematic if they develop emotions for LLMs, which isn't happening.