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Working on Economics with Fable 5

wilsoniumite.com

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Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#41

Post by howunfortunate »

tolerance wrote: post #21
skew-aberration wrote: post #11

This is a topic I'm interested in, but the presentation and exposition on the website leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, it does make you sound like a crank. Almost all of the theory and predictions presented seems to be those of regular classical economics, per Smith, Riccardo, and particularly George. You can find them in Wealth of Nations, Progress and Poverty. This surprises people who have been failed by our educa…

Thank you for being able to point out and articulate these issues. LLMs have a habit of laundering pre-existing concepts per the interests (or input) of any given user.

To be fair, human scientists also frequently launder small modifications to pre-existing work as if it's completely novel.

Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#42

Post by dash2 »

Guys you realise you can just read the Journal of Economic Perspectives for free? Its articles are written for the ordinary reader, by experts who have spent big chunks of their lives studying their specialty. They don't try to sound like a teenage girl, they don't boast about being able to do High School algebra, and they contain ideas that are less than one hundred and fifty years old. Some of them might even be new!

Sheesh.

Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#43

Post by mattwiese »

jerf wrote: post #35
skew-aberration wrote: post #11

This is a topic I'm interested in, but the presentation and exposition on the website leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, it does make you sound like a crank. Almost all of the theory and predictions presented seems to be those of regular classical economics, per Smith, Riccardo, and particularly George. You can find them in Wealth of Nations, Progress and Poverty. This surprises people who have been failed by our educa…

So, like, legit pro AI tip, at least for 3rd-quarter 2026... whenever you're working on something interesting, ask the AI about prior art, or to do a scan of the scientific literature. Whether it's economics, health, or something algorithmic at work, at least the AIs I've used (as we've not all spent all the time with all the models) are still generally inclined to give you exactly what you ask for. They may do a goo…

Yup, I too am surprised this hasn't (at least by my awareness) entered the zeitgeist.

At work I'm putting together an MCP server that more easily exposes our legume data for model consumption, and part of the insane value-add has been the curatorial work that our collaborators at USDA put into the data over years. For example, genome data (i.e. nucleic acid fastas) include relevant metadata such as their DOIs, so models can fetch and read the original papers (if they're open access, of course).

This goes a long way to boosting the intelligence/usefulness of these systems for research.

Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#44

Post by layla5alive »

skew-aberration wrote: post #11

This is a topic I'm interested in, but the presentation and exposition on the website leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, it does make you sound like a crank. Almost all of the theory and predictions presented seems to be those of regular classical economics, per Smith, Riccardo, and particularly George. You can find them in Wealth of Nations, Progress and Poverty. This surprises people who have been failed by our educa…

Your discomfort may be understated - this phenomena seems to be a slippery slope towards a kind of Dunning-Kruger accidental plagiarism via LLM?

Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#45

Post by s1artibartfast »

Stevvo wrote: post #27

My high-school economics teacher taught us Georgism is the optimal form of taxation. He gave us a bunch of dense math to back up that claim, but I can remember none of it.

There is no optimal form of taxation, only trade-offs.

There is shifting burdens from good to good or person to person.

I find it no surprise that so many of the loudest proponents for georgism are highly compensated tech workers with low physical consumption - exactly the demographic that would be favored most under that system.

Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#47

Post by copperx »

mattwiese wrote: post #43
jerf wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, like, legit pro AI tip, at least for 3rd-quarter 2026... whenever you're working on something interesting, ask the AI about prior art, or to do a scan of the scientific literature. Whether it's economics, health, or something algorithmic at work, at least the AIs I've used (as we've not all spent all the time with all the models) are still generally inclined to give you exactly what you ask for. They may do a goo…

Yup, I too am surprised this hasn't (at least by my awareness) entered the zeitgeist. At work I'm putting together an MCP server that more easily exposes our legume data for model consumption, and part of the insane value-add has been the curatorial work that our collaborators at USDA put into the data over years. For example, genome data (i.e. nucleic acid fastas) include relevant metadata such as their DOIs, so mod…

Yeah, you have to do the lateral thinking yourself. But the LLMs can do the work of going into a single-focus rabbit hole quite quickly.

Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#48

Post by edot »

jerf wrote: post #35
skew-aberration wrote: post #11

This is a topic I'm interested in, but the presentation and exposition on the website leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, it does make you sound like a crank. Almost all of the theory and predictions presented seems to be those of regular classical economics, per Smith, Riccardo, and particularly George. You can find them in Wealth of Nations, Progress and Poverty. This surprises people who have been failed by our educa…

So, like, legit pro AI tip, at least for 3rd-quarter 2026... whenever you're working on something interesting, ask the AI about prior art, or to do a scan of the scientific literature. Whether it's economics, health, or something algorithmic at work, at least the AIs I've used (as we've not all spent all the time with all the models) are still generally inclined to give you exactly what you ask for. They may do a goo…

Yes, exactly. Researchers will not like the fact that I refer to the literature as merely a manual, but “RTFM” applies here. Someone has likely already investigated what you’re looking at, or at least found a way to not do it. And sure it’s in the weights, but if you put papers directly in front of the LLM it’s much more impactful.

Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#49

Post by antisthenes »

slopinthebag wrote: post #46
Stevvo wrote: post #27

My high-school economics teacher taught us Georgism is the optimal form of taxation. He gave us a bunch of dense math to back up that claim, but I can remember none of it.

The optimal form of taxation is none

Coincidentally, that's also the optimal number of libertarians.

Re: Working on Economics with Fable 5

#50

Post by wat10000 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #45
Stevvo wrote: post #27

My high-school economics teacher taught us Georgism is the optimal form of taxation. He gave us a bunch of dense math to back up that claim, but I can remember none of it.

There is no optimal form of taxation, only trade-offs. There is shifting burdens from good to good or person to person. I find it no surprise that so many of the loudest proponents for georgism are highly compensated tech workers with low physical consumption - exactly the demographic that would be favored most under that system.

We tend to own property in places where land is expensive, we'd be paying hefty taxes in a Georgist system.
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