Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
evanhahn.com
Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
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Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#2Why not both?
LLM+Wikipedia RAG
Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#3Why not both? LLM+Wikipedia RAG
Because old laptop that can’t run a local LLM in reasonable time.
Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#4This is a sensible comparison.
My "help reboot society with the help of my little USB stick" thing was a throwaway remark to the journalist at a random point in the interview, I didn't anticipate them using it in the article! https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/17/1120391/how-to-r...
A bunch of people have pointed out that downloading Wikipedia itself onto a USB stick is sensible, and I agree with them.
Wikipedia dumps default to MySQL, so I'd prefer to convert that to SQLite and get SQLite FTS working.
1TB or more USB sticks are pretty available these days so it's not like there's a space shortage to worry about for that.
Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#5A bit related: AI companies distilled the whole Web into LLMs to make computers smart, why humans can't do the same to make the best possible new Wikipedia with some copyrighted bits to make kids supersmart?
Why kids are worse than AI companies and have to bum around?)
Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#6Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#7One important distinction is that the strength of LLMs isn't just in storing or retrieving knowledge like Wikipedia, it’s in comprehension.
LLMs will return faulty or imprecise information at times, but what they can do is understand vague or poorly formed questions and help guide a user toward an answer. They can explain complex ideas in simpler terms, adapt responses based on the user's level of understanding, and connect dots across disciplines.
In a "rebooting society" scenario, that kind of interactive comprehension could be more valuable. You wouldn’t just have a frozen snapshot of knowledge, you’d have a tool that can help people use it, even if they’re starting with limited background.
Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#8Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#9One important distinction is that the strength of LLMs isn't just in storing or retrieving knowledge like Wikipedia, it’s in comprehension. LLMs will return faulty or imprecise information at times, but what they can do is understand vague or poorly formed questions and help guide a user toward an answer. They can explain complex ideas in simpler terms, adapt responses based on the user's level of understanding, and…
An unreliable computer treated as a god by a pre-information-age society sounds like a Star Trek episode.
Re: Local LLMs versus offline Wikipedia
#10Wikipedia-snapshots without the most important meta layers, i. e. a) the article's discussion pages and related archives, as well as b) the version history, would be useless to me as critical contexts might be/are missing... especially with regards to LLM-augmented text analysis. Even when just focusing on the standout-lemmata.