Live data from Hacker News

The Gentle Singularity

blog.samaltman.com

211–220 of 557 posts

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>and the current trajectory of how LLMs are used on average in the real world unfortunately run counter to that. This post doesn't offer any forecasts on the hallucination issues of LLMs. You are getting confused here... LLMs are terrible at doing software engineering jobs. They fall on their face trying to work in sprawling codebases. However, they are excellent at writing small bespoke programs on behalf of regular…

>. They fall on their face trying to work in sprawling codebases. >However, they are excellent at writing small bespoke programs For programmers I predict a future of a million micro services. Sprawling has always been an undesirable and unnecessary byproduct of growing code bases, but there's been no easy solution to that. I wonder if LLMs would perform better on a mono repo of many small services than one sprawling…

Micro service systems are just huge sprawling code bases with more glue code. Calling something over a network instead of via a local function call is still calling something.

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#212

Regarding a super intelligence creating new cures: a million plus people die from malaria and AIDS combined each year. We have effective treatments for both, yet the USAID was recently shut down. I enjoy technology but less and less so each year, because it increasingly feels like there’s some kind of disconnect with the real world that’s hard to put my finger on

> I enjoy technology but less and less so each year, because it increasingly feels like there’s some kind of disconnect with the real world that’s hard to put my finger on Same here. I want to be an engineer. As a good engineer, I find a problem then recursively ask why. I end up with a political root cause - not a technical one. This makes me sad. I wish I could just be an engineer.

[flagged]

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#213
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The progress thus far has been very impressive but the ultimate product the average person imagines as a "self-driving car", one where you can literally devote zero attention and do something else entirely while being driven around (and that handles effectively any edge case), is still quite a ways off.

Waymo is that ultimate product. Obviously it's not everywhere and you can quibble about what "effectively any edge case" means, but it's close to human level at being able to handle whatever the streets of SF throw at it.

> able to handle whatever the streets of SF throw at it.

Not able to handle what the streets of Los Angeles throw at it, however.

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#214
post #201

Regarding a super intelligence creating new cures: a million plus people die from malaria and AIDS combined each year. We have effective treatments for both, yet the USAID was recently shut down. I enjoy technology but less and less so each year, because it increasingly feels like there’s some kind of disconnect with the real world that’s hard to put my finger on

USAID is not the sole source of administering AIDS and malaria treatments. No doubt many more people were successfully treated because those treatments exist. I don't think I understand your point. We shouldn't develop new treatments because one country won't supply them to the entire world for free? Why is it the US's responsibility to treat every disease everywhere in the world? Do these countries not have their ow…

People keep saying we're the richest country in the history of the world. I think we have a responsibility to practice good old fashioned Christian compassion (with a side of soft power if that's more your thing.)

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#215

> A lot more people will be able to create software, and art. But the world wants a lot more of both, and experts will probably still be much better than novices, as long as they embrace the new tools. This isn't correct: people want good software and good art, and the current trajectory of how LLMs are used on average in the real world unfortunately run counter to that. This post doesn't offer any forecasts on the h…

How many watts does a human brain need to produce a response to a query?

IIRC ( and it was 20 years ago now that I learnt this) the brain uses 20% of the body's resting energy usage. Most of that is keeping neurons polarised to the outside (ion pumps need ATP!!!).

The body uses 25w resting and thus the brain is about 5w.

Source: biology degree but like I said please take with the same amount of weight as a hallucinating LLM.

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#217
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a "professional tenant" with an adversarial landlord can hang on for years, I feel like my chances with no landlords and a clean deed is actually much better. It's simply pitting the most dysfunctional municipal and judicial systems against each other with the default outcome being people being housed.

I don't understand this plan. Won't you lose all the money you spent buying the houses and building the quadplexes?

I think that the plan isn't to make money, but to make real progress on solving housing availability.

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#218

> A lot more people will be able to create software, and art. But the world wants a lot more of both, and experts will probably still be much better than novices, as long as they embrace the new tools. This isn't correct: people want good software and good art, and the current trajectory of how LLMs are used on average in the real world unfortunately run counter to that. This post doesn't offer any forecasts on the h…

Whether software is good or not doesn't matter in most cases. Sure, quality matters for software used by millions. But for little bespoke applications good enough is fine. People will tolerate a lot of crap as long as it's cheap and gets the job done.

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#219
post #201

Regarding a super intelligence creating new cures: a million plus people die from malaria and AIDS combined each year. We have effective treatments for both, yet the USAID was recently shut down. I enjoy technology but less and less so each year, because it increasingly feels like there’s some kind of disconnect with the real world that’s hard to put my finger on

USAID is not the sole source of administering AIDS and malaria treatments. No doubt many more people were successfully treated because those treatments exist. I don't think I understand your point. We shouldn't develop new treatments because one country won't supply them to the entire world for free? Why is it the US's responsibility to treat every disease everywhere in the world? Do these countries not have their ow…

The point is that a treatment existing does not mean it will be adequately administered. The biggest pool of treatable cases worldwide does not occur where the people with the most ability to pay are.

Re: The Gentle Singularity

#220
post #201

Regarding a super intelligence creating new cures: a million plus people die from malaria and AIDS combined each year. We have effective treatments for both, yet the USAID was recently shut down. I enjoy technology but less and less so each year, because it increasingly feels like there’s some kind of disconnect with the real world that’s hard to put my finger on

USAID is not the sole source of administering AIDS and malaria treatments. No doubt many more people were successfully treated because those treatments exist. I don't think I understand your point. We shouldn't develop new treatments because one country won't supply them to the entire world for free? Why is it the US's responsibility to treat every disease everywhere in the world? Do these countries not have their ow…

All of these questions are easy to answer:

1) The point is that global health is also about access to a drug, not just existence.

2) We don’t. USA’s foreign aid per capita is not that high (especially now). To mobilize private money for aid, you need a long-term, trusted infrastructure.

3) Countries that receive aid typically do not have functional governments.

Post reply on HN