Pragmatic Anthropomorphism, or: How to Talk to an Autocompleting Cricket

TL;DR: Arguing over whether LLMs "truly understand" or have an inner spark misses what's actually useful when sitting in front of one. Treating an AI as a competent collaborator isn't magical thinking or naive anthropomorphism—it's pragmatic navigation of a vast latent space. Sometimes you have to suspend disbelief, show some objective respect, and let the alien eat its own spilled guts in peace.