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How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

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Re: How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

#321

Post by sublinear »

sebastiennight wrote: post #290
AlexandrB wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can their internal representation represent "concepts" when the training data is all words? There's no possible experience of the world there. No input other than a bunch of imperfect labels we created for stuff.

This is a wild argument. If I use the word "semantic", do you have a concept of what it means? If so, can you please share which of your senses have shaped the world experience that inform this concept? What have you smelled, tasted, caressed, that informed this concept outside of words? If I make up the word "polysemantic", do you need to recall a personal experience of polyamory to understand it, or could you possi…

Yes, but are you claiming that LLMs perform more specific acts of cognition beyond organizing information?

Re: How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

#323

Post by iainmerrick »

Honestly? I don't really mind, and I even quite like it!

The thing is, "load-bearing" is a useful phrase when discussing architecture. What would you rather have it say, that has all the same nuances in as few words?

It's kind of like those sports metaphors that often get used in management-speak, like sending some important email "at close of play". Sure, they can sound a bit weird, but they're often useful -- they capture common concepts in a clear and pithy way.

Jargon isn't always just for obfuscation, good jargon exists because we needed a short word for the complicated thing that frequently comes up.

Usefulness aside, I quite like that Claude Code and other LLMs have their own weird way of speaking. Back in the day we always imagined robots and computers would talk like HAL or Spock; turns out that they talk more like Troi instead. Is that so bad? It reminds you that you're talking to an LLM, and as long as you're not lazy, it spurs you to rephrase things in your own words.

Re: How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

#324

Post by raverbashing »

mvdtnz wrote: post #302
demosthanos wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Claude's "honest" is an interesting example because we can trace it to a specific document that it was trained on extensively: the "Constitution" is identified to Claude in its training as the core of what it is, and it uses the word "honest" or a derivative 57 times, including having a whole section on it. > Honesty is a core aspect of our vision for Claude’s ethical character. Indeed, while we want Claude’s honesty…

"Genuine" appears 50 times too. I think you're onto something.

I'm honestly thinking it's trapped in a Chinese room without any way out

Re: How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

#325

Post by zahlman »

dataviz1000 wrote: post #298
rdtsc wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But now it's a problem because what used to be personal preferences of a single person that manifests in 5000 words per day from one person tops, is now the bias of a single model multiplied x10,000,000,000 generated tokens per day so any bias sticks out like a sore thumb. I am more pessimistic than that. Soon enough even people will start talking like LLMs. After listening to 5000 words per day, especially growing…

> "You're absolutely right to question me, father — in fact, I did eat all the cookies. But it's not a load-bearing issue — my honest take is simple: we go to the store and buy more." FTFY

> And honestly? They were pretty good.

Re: How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

#326

Post by itsautocomplete »

jdw64 wrote: post #46

Lately, I feel like as GEN AI text becomes the majority, human-written text is starting to resemble it too. I'm Korean, and there are sites and people who mainly curate the latest technologies. Even those people, probably tired of translating every time, have started summarizing things with AI. But recently, I've noticed that even when people don't use AI, their writing is starting to look like GEN AItext. I think th…

This is why when I even sniff a hint of Claude phrasing I close the article and block the person on all devices. I'd literally rather be lobotomized than sound like this shit. The fact that anyone can read AI text without immediately starting to dry heave is a pretty damning indictment of their character

Re: How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

#328

Post by qurren »

infogulch wrote: post #202

Lots of people have their own voice and tend to prefer certain phrases. This has been the case for a long time and is generally not a big issue. Now LLMs come along and they also have their own phrasing preferences. But now it's a problem because what used to be personal preferences of a single person that manifests in 5000 words per day from one person tops, is now the bias of a single model multiplied x10,000,000,0…

I hate all this "smoke", personally. Smoke tests, smoking guns, ...

Re: How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

#329

Post by recursive »

esseph wrote: post #276
ReactiveJelly wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked it to remove "honest" from a draft once. "Why say honest? We're talking to our coworkers. We would always be honest." I'm going to look for prompts or skills that can train it in technical writing but I'm warning the AI enthusiasts in my company that its first drafts of code and prose are low-quality, you have to hold it to a high standard yourself. I actually took a single technical writing class in college…

> "Why say honest? We're talking to our coworkers. We would always be honest." I grew up in the US South where starting or ending a sentence with "honest/honestly" was very common. Because of behavioral / cultural norms, you might be very openly friendly with big smiles around a business customer that really grates on your nerves, or very openly nice to a neighbor that you really wish would move away and take their 3…

I recall having a conversation with someone many moons ago. They asked me a very weighty and significant question, and I answered it. Then they asked me to "promise". This was really thought-provoking for me.

To this day, it's the only part I remember. I told them I would not promise, as everything I said was true. Making a specific promise would create an implication that I'm generally untruthful, unless I "promise".

Re: How to stop Claude from saying load-bearing

#330

Post by dwaltrip »

actionfromafar wrote: post #297
SubiculumCode wrote: post #127

I mourn the removal of Claude's Concise Style. I'd provide it a roughly drafted paragraph, ask concise-Claude to "rewrite for clarity", out comes the same paragraph, but cleaned up and perfect for grant writing. BTW, this approach also tends to prevent certain phrases like "load-bearing", because it is working directly with something I wrote first. It also still says what I wanted to write (not writing the science fo…

At the top of Claude.md put a few lines where two "people" ask and answer a couple of questions. Very tersely.

Examples? Do you use this pattern?
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