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They Write the Right Stuff (2021)

david-haber.github.io

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Re: They Write the Right Stuff (2021)

#31

Post by cratermoon »

masklinn wrote: post #18
yetihehe wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's stated in last paragraphs of article. I've commented before I've read until end too, but removed my comment. And it's not joke, it's about where AI is now and where it should be. But you have to read until end.

> And it's not joke Then it seems like the author completely missed that « they write the right stuff » remains a complete pipe dream throughout software development. > Looking at the result, it indeed seems like AI is going through what software went through 2-3 decades ago. That would be because AI is a coat of paint on software, and software has not significantly moved from where it was back then. It anything, it’…

AI - really Machine Learning - is "just" massively parallel software for using linear algebra on high-dimensional matrices representing huge data sets.

Any programmer today can feed anything into the machine, but as the old saying goes, GIGO.

Re: They Write the Right Stuff (2021)

#32

Post by cratermoon »

the-dude wrote: post #24
Havoc wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thankfully Autopilot is not in charge of explosive bolts

Are explosive bolt more dangerous than a vehicle traveling, say, 60mph ?

Explosive bolts are more dangerous when they don't work when they must. That makes them more like the brakes, suspension & steering than the engine & drivetrain.

Re: They Write the Right Stuff (2021)

#33

Post by mklond »

cratermoon wrote: post #31
masklinn wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And it's not joke Then it seems like the author completely missed that « they write the right stuff » remains a complete pipe dream throughout software development. > Looking at the result, it indeed seems like AI is going through what software went through 2-3 decades ago. That would be because AI is a coat of paint on software, and software has not significantly moved from where it was back then. It anything, it’…

AI - really Machine Learning - is "just" massively parallel software for using linear algebra on high-dimensional matrices representing huge data sets. Any programmer today can feed anything into the machine, but as the old saying goes, GIGO.

That every programmer today can build and train an ML model is one of the biggest advancements of ML engineering in the past 10 years.

But as you say it's GIGO, the difficulty today is to know what to feed it and to know what that means for the real life performance. There are no great tools for that yet.

Re: They Write the Right Stuff (2021)

#36

Post by dh00608000 »

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #30

The cover of the magazine that featured the original: https://i.imgur.com/ki9qw3H.jpg "Perfect* -- In your work there's no margin for error. Here's the stuff to get it right. Every time. (*Well, damn near: 420,000 lines of code, 1 bug.)"

This is so cool! Thanks for digging that up and sharing. Did you remember this cover or found out about it now?

Re: They Write the Right Stuff (2021)

#37

Post by ChrisArchitect »

dh00608000 wrote: post #36
ChrisArchitect wrote: post #30

The cover of the magazine that featured the original: https://i.imgur.com/ki9qw3H.jpg "Perfect* -- In your work there's no margin for error. Here's the stuff to get it right. Every time. (*Well, damn near: 420,000 lines of code, 1 bug.)"

This is so cool! Thanks for digging that up and sharing. Did you remember this cover or found out about it now?

Ha, just pulled it out of the original Fast Company article linked. Didn't know about it, but was curious what sort of issue they would include this kind of article in. Interesting times mid/late 90s. (I was there, but I wasn't reading Fast Company! lol)

Also went back in HN archives to see what commentary there was about the original - as Dang likes to point out, surprisingly little commentary here and there tho there's some discussion like 10 months ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23537530

Re: They Write the Right Stuff (2021)

#38

Post by dh00608000 »

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #37
dh00608000 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so cool! Thanks for digging that up and sharing. Did you remember this cover or found out about it now?

Ha, just pulled it out of the original Fast Company article linked. Didn't know about it, but was curious what sort of issue they would include this kind of article in. Interesting times mid/late 90s. (I was there, but I wasn't reading Fast Company! lol) Also went back in HN archives to see what commentary there was about the original - as Dang likes to point out, surprisingly little commentary here and there tho the…

Thanks for sharing all of this. Super insightful!

Re: They Write the Right Stuff (2021)

#39

Post by ska »

mklond wrote: post #33
cratermoon wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI - really Machine Learning - is "just" massively parallel software for using linear algebra on high-dimensional matrices representing huge data sets. Any programmer today can feed anything into the machine, but as the old saying goes, GIGO.

That every programmer today can build and train an ML model is one of the biggest advancements of ML engineering in the past 10 years. But as you say it's GIGO, the difficulty today is to know what to feed it and to know what that means for the real life performance. There are no great tools for that yet.

> the difficulty today is to know what to feed it and to know what that means for the real life performance.

This has always been the difficulty.

Generalization is the fundamental problem in machine learning. Making easily available tools has led to an exponential growth in applications as more people play with it (many without understanding what they are doing or why), but predictably hasn't lead to an exponential growth in successful applications.

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