Considering how much of the whole local LLM ecosystem relies on llama.cpp, very much like the Open Source Video Ecosystem and FFmpeg, Computer Scientists and Hackers should look towards Physicists of the past Century who managed to make their Einsteins known to a general public. With Fabrice and Georgi and others we still have a ways to go before the value of their contributions is widely known. Ok for Georgi (and Aa…
While I agree that there are a lot of people doing excellent work who ought to be recognized for it, I really wish people stopped looking for individuals to idolize. The physics of today is a heavily collaborative activity, so while you can argue about whether there is an Einstein alive today or not it's unlikely that someone sitting by themselves working alone is likely to revolutionize the field like he did. The same is true for software engineering. And, I would posit, that the field is new enough that the amount of effort required to reach the forefront in any given area is actually less than one might think. We should celebrate the accomplishments of those who are working at that edge but to put them on a pedestal seems inappropriate.