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Thoughts on thinking

dcurt.is

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Re: Thoughts on thinking

#21

Post by i1856511 »

perplex wrote: post #15

I don't think LLMs replace thinking, but rather elevate it. When I use an LLM, I’m still doing the intellectual work, but I’m freed from the mechanics of writing. It’s similar to programming in C instead of assembly: I’m operating at a higher level of abstraction, focusing more on what I want to say than how to say it.

If you do not know how to say something, you don't know how to say it.

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#22

Post by Trasmatta »

Agreed. I keep seeing posts where people claim the output is all that really matters (particularly with code), and I think that's missing something deeply fundamental about being human.

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#23

Post by boznz »

Think Bigger. As the LLM's capability expands use it to push yourself outside your comfort zone every now and then. I have done some great fun projects recently I would have never thought of tackling before

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#24

Post by cess11 »

This person should probably read pre-Internet books, discover or rediscover that the bar for passable expression in text is very low compared to what it was.

Most of that 'corpus' isn't even on the Internet so it is wholly unknown to our "AI" masters.

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#25

Post by tibbar »

AI is far better in style than in substance. That is, an AI-written solution will have all the trappings of expertise and deep thought, but frankly is usually at best mediocre. It's sort of like when you hear someone make a very eloquent point and your instinct is to think "wow, that's the final word on the subject, then!" ... and then someone who actually understands the subject points out the flaw in the elegant argument, and it falls down like a house of cards. So, at least for now, don't be fooled! Develop expertise, be the person who really understands stuff.

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#26

Post by uludag »

What happens to conversation in this case? When groups of people are trained to use LLMs as a crutch for thinking, what happens when people get together and need to discuss something. I feel like the averageness of the thinking would get compounded so that the conversation as a whole becomes nothing but a staging ground for a prompt. Would an hour long conversation about the intricacies of a system architecture become a ten minute chatter of what prompts people would want to ask? Does everyone then channel their LLM to the rest of the group? In the end, would the most probable response to which all LLMs being used agree with be the result of the conversation?

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#27

Post by mlboss »

What we need is mental gyms. In modern society there is no need for physical labor but we go to gyms just to keep ourselves healthy.

Similarly in future we will not need mental "labor" but to keep ourselves sharp we need engage in mental exercises. I am thinking of picking up chess again just for this reason.

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#28

Post by spinach »

I've had the same experience but with drawing. What's the point when AI can generate perfect finished pieces in seconds? Why put all that effort in to learning and drawing something. It's always been hard for me but it used to feel worth it for the finished piece, but now you can bring a piece of computer art into being with a simple word prompt.

I still create, I just use physical materials like clay and such, to make things that AI can't yet replicate.

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#29

Post by paulorlando »

ge96 wrote: post #20
paulorlando wrote: post #6

I've noticed something like this as well. A suggestion is to write/build for no one but yourself. Really no one but yourself. Some of my best writing came during the time that I didn't try to publicize the content. I didn't even put my name on it. But doing that and staying interested enough to spend the hours to think and write and build takes a strange discipline. Easy for me to say as I don't know that I've had it…

Yeah there is the personal passion and then the points/likes driven which sucks the joy out I experienced this when I was younger with my rc planes, I joined some forum and I felt like everything I did had to be posted/liked to have value. I'd post designs/fantasy and get the likes then lose interest/not actually do it after I got the ego bump

I think that's why some writers refuse to talk about their work in progress. If they do, it saps the life out of it. Your ego bump example kind of fits into that.

Re: Thoughts on thinking

#30

Post by regurgist »

You are in a maze of twisty little passages that are not the same. You have to figure out which ones are not. Try this. The world is infinitely complex. AI is very good at dealing with the things it knows and can know. It can write more accurately than I can, spell better. It just takes stuff I do and learns from my mistakes. I'm good with that. But here is something to ask AI:

Name three things you cannot think about because of the language you use?

Or "why do people cook curds when making cheese."

Or how about this:

"Name three things you cannot think about because of the language you use?"

AI is at least to some extent a artificial regurgitarian. It can tell you about things that have been thought. Cool. But here is a question for you. Are there things that you can think about that have not been thought about before?

The reason people cook curds is because the goal of cheese making was to preserve milk, not to make cheese.

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