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Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

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11–20 of 81 posts

Re: Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

#11
post #6

I think the more important question is: have people really run out of interesting flavors at their local stores and restaurants, that they are so obsessed with eating things they find growing on the ground? I’ll never understand mushroom culture.

I’ve been at a locals’ restaurant in Italy where the chef had sourced some truffles from a nearby wood. They were better than anything he could have got from a store

Re: Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

#12
Is it possible to reliably (>99%) identify mushrooms from a single image, with any method?

All image datasets have an intrinsic minimum error that comes from the limit of information in the data, regardless of what model or method you use to analyze it.

You might not be able to tell apart two similar-looking mushroom species just by looking.

Re: Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

#13
post #4

the interesting question is: what is the barrier we need to cross to trust LLMs with stuff like this? we'll probably cross the barrier but I'd have a hard time setting a true percentage success boundary

What is needed before it is wise to trust LLMs with life or death decisions?

Or, what is needed before we are forced to give LLMs control of life or death decisions in the name of profits?

Re: Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

#14
post #4

the interesting question is: what is the barrier we need to cross to trust LLMs with stuff like this? we'll probably cross the barrier but I'd have a hard time setting a true percentage success boundary

We'll cross it around the same time we hand over nuclear reactor and airplane control systems to LLMs.

I guess if you had a billion dollar you could assemble an ML team and fine-tune a frontier LLM specifically for that purpose through RL, and it could work better than your local pharmacologist, but I doubt anyone would bother doing that.

So it will probably come long after airplanes actually.

Re: Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

#15
post #6

I think the more important question is: have people really run out of interesting flavors at their local stores and restaurants, that they are so obsessed with eating things they find growing on the ground? I’ll never understand mushroom culture.

There is a great variety of mushrooms with distinct characteristics, many of which are only found in the wild. Even the ones sold at restaurants are often sourced from foragers. It's a skill to find and identify them and for many it's an exciting hobby.

Re: Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

#16
post #6

I think the more important question is: have people really run out of interesting flavors at their local stores and restaurants, that they are so obsessed with eating things they find growing on the ground? I’ll never understand mushroom culture.

I agree. Foraging out in the beautiful woods connecting to nature by eating what you picked is irrational.

Re: Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

#18
post #6

I think the more important question is: have people really run out of interesting flavors at their local stores and restaurants, that they are so obsessed with eating things they find growing on the ground? I’ll never understand mushroom culture.

Same as fishing or hunting, or foraging blueberry or blackberries while hiking, there's some primal reward in gathering your own food (occasionally, that is).

Re: Mushroom hunting with LLMs: what can go wrong?

#19
post #6

I think the more important question is: have people really run out of interesting flavors at their local stores and restaurants, that they are so obsessed with eating things they find growing on the ground? I’ll never understand mushroom culture.

You can't really understand until you've tasted choice mushrooms, the only one of which is findable in stores is the bolete, and even that's usually dry and tells terrible quality. I used to go in the forest and find maybe 5 types of really tasty mushrooms, come back with enough for the whole family. Add some cheese and some onions and it's Michelin star in the mountains.

It's also quite a thrill to spot a log absolutely covered in oyster or woodear mushrooms (two I feel very confident in identifying, and thankfully both were common on the 10k trail above Albuquerque)
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