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Arguing with Agents

blowmage.com

11–20 of 43 posts

Re: Arguing with Agents

#11
post #4

I got about halfway through this article until I started wondering why it was so long and going in loops. Then I ctrl+f'd. ` just `, (spaces on either side matter), 11 instances, most seem to be `isnt just`, `wasnt just`, `doesnt just` type pattern `-`, an en dash instead of an emdash but 59 instances. This article is either from a clanker and I am pissed off at wasting my time reading it, or from someone who writes…

Maybe it's just the frequency illusion, but "X. Not Y." in particular is a pattern I strongly associate with LLM writing.

> That’s confabulation. Not a metaphor. The same phenomenon.

> Published. Replicated. Not fringe.

> Not to validate it. Not to refute it. Not to engage with its content at all.

Re: Arguing with Agents

#12
post #4

I got about halfway through this article until I started wondering why it was so long and going in loops. Then I ctrl+f'd. ` just `, (spaces on either side matter), 11 instances, most seem to be `isnt just`, `wasnt just`, `doesnt just` type pattern `-`, an en dash instead of an emdash but 59 instances. This article is either from a clanker and I am pissed off at wasting my time reading it, or from someone who writes…

Maybe it's just the frequency illusion, but "X. Not Y." in particular is a pattern I strongly associate with LLM writing. > That’s confabulation. Not a metaphor. The same phenomenon. > Published. Replicated. Not fringe. > Not to validate it. Not to refute it. Not to engage with its content at all.

It’s absolutely a signal. As is the constant repeating of points. It’s AI slop for sure

Which is a shame coz the premise is interesting.

Re: Arguing with Agents

#13
post #3

Great article, best insight into autistic neurotypical communication styles. Couldn’t you have a “communications” LLM massage your prompts to the “main” LLM so that it removes the queues that cause the main LLM to mistakenly infer your state of mind?

I’ve definitely used the “meta LLM” to do research into how LLMs need information to help me get to the next step.

Re: Arguing with Agents

#14
post #8

>A recurring experience: I say something explicit, the other person hears something implicit. I've experienced this my entire life and have all but given up trying to have actual conversations with people.

How’s life on the spectrum? Have you been diagnosed?

Re: Arguing with Agents

#15
post #2

This is very well written and told. It’s worth reading all the way through. > If you try to refute it, you’ll just get another confabulation. > Not because the model is lying to you on purpose, and not because it’s “resistant” or “defensive” in the way a human might be. It’s because the explanation isn’t connected to anything that could be refuted. There is no underlying mental state that generated “I sensed pressure…

Very well written? It’s a bunch of AI generated stuff around an interesting point. It repeats its points over and over again, meanders.

It’s an interesting thesis, it’s not well written or well told

Re: Arguing with Agents

#16
post #10

I recently came across this presentation https://youtu.be/QxkRf-xSfgI , and it changed my view of AI quite significantly. (There is also a paper https://arxiv.org/html/2510.12066v2 .) The fundamental idea is that "intelligence" really means trying to shorten the time to figure out something. So it's a tradeoff, not a quality. And AI agents are doing it. Therefore, if that perspective is right, the issues that the OP…

> The fundamental idea is that "intelligence" really means trying to shorten the time to figure out something.

"Figure out" implies awareness and structured understanding. If we relax the definition too much, then puddles of water are intelligent and uncountable monkeys on typewriters are figuring out Shakespeare.

Re: Arguing with Agents

#17
Is there a name for this style of writing? Where it's composed exclusively of simple sentences. Short and punchy.

Paragraphs with just a single sentence.

I know it's associated with LLM writing. This article probably wasn't written by an LLM. But still. It has a kind of rhythm to it. Like poetry. But poetry designed to put me to sleep.

Re: Arguing with Agents

#18

Is there a name for this style of writing? Where it's composed exclusively of simple sentences. Short and punchy. Paragraphs with just a single sentence. I know it's associated with LLM writing. This article probably wasn't written by an LLM. But still. It has a kind of rhythm to it. Like poetry. But poetry designed to put me to sleep.

it's written by LLM

Re: Arguing with Agents

#19
The article looks like an AI generated novel to me. So I didn't bother reading it in detail. But I see telltale signs of long conversations leading to the agent cutting corners.

To the author (and those who write novel-like blogs): I suggest publishing the raw prompt you used to generate such slop instead. We'll have more respect for you if you respect the reader's time.

Re: Arguing with Agents

#20

Is there a name for this style of writing? Where it's composed exclusively of simple sentences. Short and punchy. Paragraphs with just a single sentence. I know it's associated with LLM writing. This article probably wasn't written by an LLM. But still. It has a kind of rhythm to it. Like poetry. But poetry designed to put me to sleep.

It's called Parataxis and it will fail english comp 1
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