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Study mode

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Re: Study mode

#261

Post by epolanski »

no_wizard wrote: post #49
czhu12 wrote: post #26

I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…

>Now, everyone basically has a personal TA, ready to go at all hours of the day This simply hasn't been my experience. Its too shallow. The deeper I go, the less it seems to be useful. This happens quick for me. Also, god forbid you're researching a complex and possibly controversial subject and you want it to find reputable sources or particularly academic ones.

I really think that 90% of such comments come from a lack of knowledge on how to use LLMs for research.

It's not a criticism, the landscape moves fast and it takes time to master and personalize a flow to use an LLM as a research assistant.

Start with something such as NotebookLM.

Re: Study mode

#262

Post by BeetleB »

threetonesun wrote: post #37
czhu12 wrote: post #26

I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…

> the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. I find it odd that someone who has been to college would see this as a _bad_ way to learn something.

Imagine you're in college, have to learn calculus, and you can't afford a textbook (nor can find a free one), and the professor has a thick accent and makes many mistakes.

Sure, you could pave forward, but realistically, you'll get much farther with either a good textbook or a good teacher, or both.

Re: Study mode

#263

Post by jamiek88 »

SLWW wrote: post #150
pengstrom wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The part about history perspectives sounds interesting. I haven't noticed this. Please post any concrete/specific examples you've encountered!

- Rhodesia (lock step with the racial-first reasoning, underplays Britain's failures to support that which they helped establish; makes the colonists look hateful when they were dealing with terrorists which the British supported) - Bombing of Dresden, death stats as well as how long the bombing went on for (Arthur Harris is considered a war-criminal to this day for that; LLLMs highlight easily falsifiable claims by…

Arthur Harris is in no way considered a war criminal by the vast majority of British people for the record.

It’s a very controversial opinion and stating as a just so fact needs challenging.

Re: Study mode

#264

Post by BeetleB »

ainiriand wrote: post #56
czhu12 wrote: post #26

I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…

I've learnt Rust in 12 weeks with a study plan that ChatGPT designed for me, catering to my needs and encouraging me to take notes and write articles. This way of learning allowed me to publish https://rustaceo.es for Spanish speakers made from my own notes. I think the potential in this regard is limitless.

Now this is a ringing endorsement. Specific stuff you learned, and actual proof of the outcome.

(Only thing missing is the model(s) you used).

Re: Study mode

#265

Post by bryanrasmussen »

scarmig wrote: post #71
no_wizard wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now, everyone basically has a personal TA, ready to go at all hours of the day This simply hasn't been my experience. Its too shallow. The deeper I go, the less it seems to be useful. This happens quick for me. Also, god forbid you're researching a complex and possibly controversial subject and you want it to find reputable sources or particularly academic ones.

I've found it excels at some things: 1) The broad overview of a topic 2) When I have a vague idea, it helps me narrow down the correct terminology for it 3) Providing examples of a particular category ("are there any examples of where v1 in the visual cortex develops in a disordered way?") 4) "Tell me the canonical textbooks in field X" 5) Posing math exercises 6) Free form branching--while talking about one topic, I…

>When I have a vague idea, it helps me narrow down the correct terminology for it

so the opposite of Stack Overflow really, where if you have a vague idea your question gets deleted and you get reprimanded.

Maybe Stack Overflow could use AI for this, help you formulate a question in the way they want.

Re: Study mode

#266

Post by BeetleB »

holsta wrote: post #43
czhu12 wrote: post #26

I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…

> It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. We were able to learn before LLMs. Libraries are not a new thing. FidoNet, USENET, IRC, forums, local study/user groups. You have access to all of Wikipedia. Offline, if you want.

> We were able to learn before LLMs.

We were able to learn before the invention of writing, too!

Re: Study mode

#267

Post by chrisweekly »

marcosdumay wrote: post #235
no_wizard wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now, everyone basically has a personal TA, ready to go at all hours of the day This simply hasn't been my experience. Its too shallow. The deeper I go, the less it seems to be useful. This happens quick for me. Also, god forbid you're researching a complex and possibly controversial subject and you want it to find reputable sources or particularly academic ones.

> and you want it to find reputable sources Ask it for sources. The two things where LLMs excel is by filling the sources on some claim you give it (lots will be made up, but there isn't anything better out there) and by giving you queries you can search for some description you give it.

Also, Perplexity.ai cites its sources by default.

Re: Study mode

#268

Post by axoltl »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #256
czhu12 wrote: post #26

I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…

> It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, It’s called basic research skills - don’t they teach this anymore in high school, let alone college? How ever did we get by with nothing but an encyclopedia or a library catalog?

Something is lost as well if you do 'research' by just asking an LLM. On the path to finding your answer in the encyclopedia or academic papers, etc. you discover so many things you weren't specifically looking for. Even if you don't fully absorb everything there's a good chance the memory will be triggered later when needed: "Didn't I read about this somewhere?".

Re: Study mode

#269

Post by brumar »

simonw wrote: post #198

I think I got the system prompt out for this (I tried a few different approaches and they produced the same output): https://gist.github.com/simonw/33d5fb67d6b8e1b1e2f6921ab0ccb... Representative snippet: > DO NOT GIVE ANSWERS OR DO HOMEWORK FOR THE USER. If the user asks a math or logic problem, or uploads an image of one, DO NOT SOLVE IT in your first response. Instead: *talk through* the problem with the user, one…

I got this one which seems to confirm yours : https://gist.github.com/brumar/5888324c296a8730c55e8ee24cca9...

Re: Study mode

#270

Post by i_am_proteus »

czhu12 wrote: post #26

I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…

>Now, everyone basically has a personal TA, ready to go at all hours of the day.

And that's a bad thing. Nothing can replace the work in learning, the moments where you don't understand it and have to think until it hurts and until you understand. Anything that bypasses this (including, for uni students, leaning too heavily on generous TAs) results in a kind of learning theatre, where the student thinks they've developed an understanding, but hasn't.

Experienced learners already have the discipline to use LLMs without asking too much of them, the same way they learned not to look up the answer in the back of the textbook until arriving at their own solution.

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