Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 264 posts

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#151

Post by xhevahir »

Chamix wrote: post #53
sillysaurusx wrote: post #18

(I'm not a part of GA.) I've known gwern for the better part of a decade. Working with him has been great. We've done quite a few projects together, including being the first ones to demonstrate that GPT-2 could play chess (or rather, can be used for actual useful work instead of just being an autocomplete). He's a great person. I've wanted to do a writeup on it for some time, but what surprised me the most is his hu…

Ha, haha, across hundreds of personal discussions I've been involved with on lesswrong/lighthaven, twitter, Wikipedia talk/editing, SF parties etc I think his most distinguishing feature has always been his abiding and unabashed love for possessing extreme competency whenever satisfying cunningham-esque laws. Though the post-dwarkesh clout certainly tainted things a bit.

> his abiding and unabashed love for possessing extreme competency whenever satisfying cunningham-esque laws. Though the post-dwarkesh clout certainly tainted things a bit.

I can't make any sense of that.

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#152

Post by koudelka »

qingcharles wrote: post #133
rocmcd wrote: post #38

It's hard to read Gwern's accompanying article without seeing this for what it is, which is a kind of mania. I'm sure he means well and is genuine in his aspirations, but what's outlined for GA is framing LLM's as quasi-gods, which they absolutely are not. I wish him the best, and look forward to being proven wrong.

The end goal of AI is to create quasi-gods.

The term robot came from the Czech language in 1923. The word was coined by Czech author Karel Capek, first used in his play R.U.R. (translated as Rossum's Universal Robots).[7][8][9] The term comes from the Czech word robotník ('forced worker'), from robota 'forced labor, compulsory service, drudgery,' from robotiti 'to work, drudge', from an Old Czech source akin to Old Church Slavonic rabota (работа) 'servitude,' from rabu 'slave'.

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#153

Post by keiferski »

And this is true of everyone else, whether lawyers or writers or researchers: increasingly, you are the bottleneck to be optimized away. As long as human workers cannot be removed from the loop, the AI tools are complements, but as soon as they can be, there’s no reason to keep them, and trillions of reasons to substitute AI for them. (And once human workers are no longer irreplaceable, where does their power or relevance come from?)

There are so many false assumptions and leaps of logic here, I don’t know where to start.

The idea of a more user security-conscious LLM is a good idea. I don’t know why it needs to be wrapped in novel-lengths of LOTR quotes and Sci-fi speculation.

That said, it’s very interesting to juxtapose this post with others by writers that are interested not in “maximizing product output” but in actually expressing themselves.

This post is like the ultimate expression of the idea that the only valuable thing writing has to offer is information, and not personal experience, poetry, advice, humor, etc. - which I suppose is fitting for someone that has written anonymously for over a decade.

It’s a shame that he didn’t reach the opposite conclusion, like some other writers have – the way to respond to LLMs is to be more human, not less.

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#154

Post by xhevahir »

frozenseven wrote: post #135
nkrisc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Imagine an LLM which actually sounded like you, and to an extent, thought like you. How much would you pay to have access to a smarter version of yourself? I find the idea dehumanizing and revolting. The notion of then selling it is the spoiled cream on top.

After reading some of the outraged comments here, I'm even more excited.

Hopefully the satisfaction of owning the normies isn't the only benefit you'll get from this technology. Because that would be pretty sad.

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#155

Post by egocodedinsol »

keiferski wrote: post #153

And this is true of everyone else, whether lawyers or writers or researchers: increasingly, you are the bottleneck to be optimized away. As long as human workers cannot be removed from the loop, the AI tools are complements, but as soon as they can be, there’s no reason to keep them, and trillions of reasons to substitute AI for them. (And once human workers are no longer irreplaceable, where does their power or rele…

“a more user security-conscious LLM is a good idea. I don’t know why it needs to be wrapped in novel-lengths of LOTR quotes and Sci-fi speculation” “This post is like the ultimate expression of the idea that the only valuable thing writing has to offer is information, and not personal experience, poetry, advice, humor, etc“

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#156

Post by keiferski »

jjulius wrote: post #137
kashyapc wrote: post #93

> What would it take for LLMs to make me 100× more productive? Without this, I am doomed to irrelevance. Are you, though? You will only be "doomed" if your place your value system squarely on "productivity". Then what is to differentiate you from a machine? * * * Edit: I'm not sure how I can feel confident about a proposal that puts so much value on "productivity". How can you reconcile this with "self-actualization"…

Agreed, re: placing value squarely on productivity. The thing is, we're all eventually irrelevant. That's the way the universe works. Every single one of us, after enough time. Claiming we're "doomed" to it is just ego talking.

The idea that longevity = meaningful is a value judgement derived from culture. In nature, many significant things happen in extremely small amounts of time.

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#157

Post by kashyapc »

Mithriil wrote: post #112
kashyapc wrote: post #93

> What would it take for LLMs to make me 100× more productive? Without this, I am doomed to irrelevance. Are you, though? You will only be "doomed" if your place your value system squarely on "productivity". Then what is to differentiate you from a machine? * * * Edit: I'm not sure how I can feel confident about a proposal that puts so much value on "productivity". How can you reconcile this with "self-actualization"…

One of the example Gwern brings [1] is a GA as an agent for public discourse and political life, to bring your "set of values" to have an effect in solving society's issues, when you yourself don't have the time or energy to. I don't think it solves or reconciles with self-actualization, but, from a pragmatical point of view, it offers the promise of extending causally your set of views and philosophies to politics.…

> One of the example Gwern brings [1] is a GA as an agent for public discourse and political life, to bring your "set of values" to have an effect in solving society's issues, when you yourself don't have the time or energy to.

I'm sorry, that doesn't sound meaningful. If I don't have the energy, I'd rather shut up than have a stupid "avatar" of me yell on the internet in the name of "bringing my values" or "participate in an online discourse". I'm all for forward-looking thinking, but we must show humility. "Society's issues" are complex and deep. Those who propose internet-based solutions to troubling social ills don't often demonstrate a deep understanding of the nature of the problem. You can't plug it all with "agents"! Socrates would be rolling in his grave.

I know Silicon Valley is in a perpetual rush, but this idea needs more soak-time (3-4 years) to see if it actually holds any water. But this kind of thinking won't you get that sweet VC money.

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#158

Post by reasonableklout »

majormajor wrote: post #82
reasonableklout wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's novel because previous rounds of automation were about automating specific tasks or well-scoped functions. There was always an implicit understanding that the white-collar worker would be freed to spend their time on more valuable, higher-level problems. But this time is different because of the generality of the technology. Agents promise to automate the process of thinking itself. And in many domains they can…

> It's novel because previous rounds of automation were about automating specific tasks or well-scoped functions. There was always an implicit understanding that the white-collar worker would be freed to spend their time on more valuable, higher-level problems. But this time is different because of the generality of the technology. Agents promise to automate the process of thinking itself. And in many domains they ca…

That's a good point. However, overseas people are still people. They need to sleep, get sick, and the better they get at their jobs, the more money they will demand. The cheap ones also often have communication barriers and work slower than the workers they're replacing.

AI models get better and more efficient every 3 months, run around the clock, can be copied infinitely, and unprecedented amounts of capital and research talent are being thrown at any limitations we can see with them (such as problems writing correct code in 2024, lack of agency in 2025, autonomy and self-improvement in 2026). That's the difference between labor replacement through outsourcing vs. labor replacement through automation.

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#159

Post by jibal »

MichaelDickens wrote: post #96
edot wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Math is verifiable. LLMs will continue to make strides in such search spaces where all they need to do is try->verify->repeat. You can't train an LLM on how to end the war in Iran or Ukraine, nor how to solve hunger, nor climate change, etc. Real issues. And LLMs still suck at art and writing.

Three years ago, people were saying "LLMs just generate plausible-sounding text, they don't understand the notion of truth so they can't do verifiable work like math proofs."

> they don't understand the notion of truth so they can't do verifiable work like math proofs."

a) No one ever said that.

b) Your comment shows a lack of understanding of the notion of truth.

Re: I am retiring from fulltime writing (& pseudonymity) to launch Guardian Angel

#160

Post by jibal »

ytoawwhra92 wrote: post #127
drcode wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An LLM just solved 10 top tier math problems this week. It seems very likely that in 6 months they will solve 100 top tier math problems, maybe 1 millenium math problem, maybe 10 top tier physics problems, etc. It's only going to get crazier.

Has an LLM ever intentionally made you laugh? Cry?

Incoherent question because LLMs don't have intentions.
Post reply on HN