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I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

ploum.net

51–60 of 66 posts

Re: I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

#51

I'm a 60M, recently retired and I wholly agree with this piece. I was classically educated and trained as a structural engineer before turning to software. My experience throughout my career was to observe at every turn the total absence of an engineering ethos which rests on a deep understanding of theory, materials, process and construction. Vibing software will destroy what little rigor there ever was in software…

It’s the first comment I read in years that doesn’t go “I’m 60 and I’m back to programming again, and having a lot of fun” which make my eyes roll out of their orbits.

Re: I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

#53
post #52
post #32

Do those people feel important by objecting on those tools? Like they are above others?

Unironically, yes. It takes courage to take a stance and go against the grain at the cost of social ostracism.

What courage?

Hating AI is the norm right now..all those college students, almost everyone in my circle hates AI..the real courage is to speak the truth and try to be objective..

Re: I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

#54

You won't be able to choose at some point, and you probably already read plenty of AI generated stuff, it's a survivorship bias. I have a SKILL that emulates how my supervisor prefers his answers and papers, he used to get triggered by generated stuff, but now it just writes in a style he likes which I got from a bunch of his papers and everything goes smoother. If you are bottlenecking someone they will just do the…

> have a SKILL that emulates how my supervisor prefers his answers and papers, he used to get triggered by generated stuff, but now it just writes in a style he likes

So your direct superior asked you not to do something and you still worked your way around his preference while feeling cool about of it? Just to save the time of typing?

Re: I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

#56

The stance is defensible but the article reads like it was written in 2023. Still using the term 'stochastic parrot', in 2026, when century-old mathematical problems are being proven by LLMs almost on a weekly basis doesn't make sense.

The solving of the mathematics problems is largely a marketing stunt. It's a great headline though.

It was also deeply uneconomic, and didn't change the world, or materially advance our understanding. Mostly it's demoralised the mathematicians already working to solve those problems. They're not going to say 'That's great, I can now devote my energies to another problem', they're more likely to look at 10 years of poorly paid intellectually rigorous work and go home and kick the dog. For a headline.

Re: I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

#57
post #51

I'm a 60M, recently retired and I wholly agree with this piece. I was classically educated and trained as a structural engineer before turning to software. My experience throughout my career was to observe at every turn the total absence of an engineering ethos which rests on a deep understanding of theory, materials, process and construction. Vibing software will destroy what little rigor there ever was in software…

It’s the first comment I read in years that doesn’t go “I’m 60 and I’m back to programming again, and having a lot of fun” which make my eyes roll out of their orbits.

Those posts are so many now that I’m inclined to believe they’re all written by AI bots..

Re: I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

#58
post #36
post #32

Do those people feel important by objecting on those tools? Like they are above others?

I'm getting downvoted while the article itself got flagged. I still don't understand given the advancement in those models (both closed and open source) one could have such a reductionist view on them. And my only guess is that they derive the feeling of importance through the act of rebellion. Almost like a teenage rebelling against others. But it doesn't take much to see this tech is here to stay.

Weak egos. Very little of these blind hatreds are derived rationally. They start with a bruised ego first and work backward to make up reasons. Seeing a lot of crypto dualism too, which is hilarious.

Re: I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

#59

The stance is defensible but the article reads like it was written in 2023. Still using the term 'stochastic parrot', in 2026, when century-old mathematical problems are being proven by LLMs almost on a weekly basis doesn't make sense.

The solving of the mathematics problems is largely a marketing stunt. It's a great headline though. It was also deeply uneconomic, and didn't change the world, or materially advance our understanding. Mostly it's demoralised the mathematicians already working to solve those problems. They're not going to say 'That's great, I can now devote my energies to another problem', they're more likely to look at 10 years of po…

Would these mathematicians have said the same thing if another mathematician with a strong competitive drive has beat them to the timing? And how do these mathematicians think of the proof of the four color theorem?

Re: I Don't Want to Interact with Stochastic Parrots

#60
post #8

We are all stochastic parrots. Currently, millions of years of evolutionary pressure have produced a better algorithm than a few years of optimization pressure but we’ll see how long that remains true!

You are not just a stochastic parrot. Your speech is not just "next likely word", but a product of your internal model of the world.

I would first like to ask, are you religious? Do you believe in souls? If the answer to both is "No", then I'd like to discuss further.
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