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How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

laurentiugabriel.github.io

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Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#351

Post by xxs »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #307
matherial wrote: post #306

This is, without exaggeration, probably the fiftieth blog post or long-form comment about how someone is using an LLM for "complex learning", and I'd just really like to see at least one of these to be accompanied by a statement saying what are the kinds of problems the author can now confidently solve that they couldn't before. In my experience, LLMs are really good for taking up your time and making you feel like y…

> don't really teach you anything Dunno, I've been learning a lot of Rust in the past few days. Just dove right into a project and asked AI to teach me stuff on a need to know basis. I'm actually getting used to Rust by now.

Learning programming languages is quite trivial. Many years ago I counted 16 that I had used professionally, now they are more.

It takes way more time to master and be very comfortable with a language due to its ecosystem, though. Some languages are more likely to click with a person, yet underneath they are all the same (minus the functional languages that form their own group), e.g. some performance issues may require looking at the generate assembly code.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#352

Post by m0rc »

For learning, I find LLM's helpful as a knoledgeable "tutor" or "friend" during the reading of a complex paper or book. Before, when I got stuck, I spend lot's of time going around different books/pages/papers until I was able to find a simple enough explanation that allowed me to "catch up". Now, I can ask the LLM and then continue from there.

Learning from a book is still the best... Although I have been told that learning a complete subject from a book is now an inproductive use of my time... Perhaps they are right, but I still do it.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#353

Post by big_paps »

ethin wrote: post #127
8bitsout wrote: post #48

I thought LLMs were a great tool for learning new topics - perhaps even complex ones. But overtime, I have had several frustrations with this. First, I get exhausted reading LLM prose. I really don't want to read anything generated by something like Opus 5 at this point. Second, as I dive deeper, I need a way to organize the information in a useful way as I begin to branch out in many different directions. I have tri…

Even if you tell the LLM not to use LLM pros they (still) do it. If you feed the Wikipedia article on signs of AI writing and tell them to use none of those signs they will also (still) do it. I have tried (many times) to get an LLM to explain a concept to me, or a process, or an algorithm or what have you, and every time they cannot help themselves. Either they use LLM pros, or they get so verbose that it all just b…

For Gemini 3 this seems bit to be the case. If you use gems you get completely different personalities - so different that its almost scary. You can create gems which are really insulting, gaslighting or seemingly of a specific profession

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#354

Post by ImHereToVote »

abustamam wrote: post #332
bilbo-b-baggins wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or do you? Cause if you went back and forth with ChatGPT for an hour it definitely hallucinated and lied to you at some point. Maybe consider using something else like Brilliant.org if you want to learn a topic, yanno, so you don’t propagate whatever hallucination from ChatGPT to your kids.

These days online courses like Brilliant and such are likely largely LLM generated. Are they actually vetted by experts before publication? Who knows. My money is on no, or at least, not until someone complains. Its easy enough to prompt ChatGPT for primary sources when doing research to validate any claims its making.

You should actually do this. Ask ChatGPT to check what it said against sources. It does correct itself. The corrections are usually not major. Just mental shortcuts.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#355

Post by nalekberov »

> What you get is a beautiful animation that is 100% accurate and free of hallucinations.

I am pretty sure this person is

a. Ignorant of the fact, that AI is designed to give just answers, they do not care whether they’re true or not

b. Have never Cross-checked Information given by AI with reliable sources

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#356

Post by TooSmugToFail »

furyofantares wrote: post #115
enraged_camel wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by this?

"Turtles all the way down" is a phrase of, I think, unknown origin ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down ) about infinite regress or trying to patch up some bad theory by appealing to itself. Someone claims that what holds the Earth in place is that it sits atop a giant turtle, and a skeptic asks what holds the turtle up, and the response is that it's turtles all the way down. Personally I think th…

I would have bet it’s a Terry Pratchett quote, and it kinda is:

“"The turtle moves," said Didactylos. "The turtle is a giant reptile that swims through space. It doesn't have to stand on anything. Swimming is what turtles do. The idea that it has to stand on another turtle, and that turtle has to stand on another turtle, is just silly. It's turtles all the way down, and that's a logical absurdity."

Small Gods, 1992

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#357

Post by PreciousH »

matherial wrote: post #306

This is, without exaggeration, probably the fiftieth blog post or long-form comment about how someone is using an LLM for "complex learning", and I'd just really like to see at least one of these to be accompanied by a statement saying what are the kinds of problems the author can now confidently solve that they couldn't before. In my experience, LLMs are really good for taking up your time and making you feel like y…

[dead]

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#358

Post by ChrisGreenHeur »

fluoridation wrote: post #333
fy20 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends on what you want to learn and what your definition of "learnt" is. The other day I realised I had no idea how DNA and life works. I guess I studied it at high school (25 years ago), but maybe it didn't go into much detail or it just didn't click. So I asked ChatGPT to explain it to me, I came up with my own mental model from it's explanation, told it that, then it corrected me where I misunderstood…

>So I asked ChatGPT to explain it to me, I came up with my own mental model from it's explanation, told it that, then it corrected me where I misunderstood things. We went backwards and forwards for an hour, me asking questions, it correcting me, until I felt like I understood the whole picture. If you're only checking your understanding against the one source you used to obtain it, how can you tell whether your unde…

Same question applies if you only check it against your children's biology books

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#359

Post by fluoridation »

ChrisGreenHeur wrote: post #358
fluoridation wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So I asked ChatGPT to explain it to me, I came up with my own mental model from it's explanation, told it that, then it corrected me where I misunderstood things. We went backwards and forwards for an hour, me asking questions, it correcting me, until I felt like I understood the whole picture. If you're only checking your understanding against the one source you used to obtain it, how can you tell whether your unde…

Same question applies if you only check it against your children's biology books

Uh, yeah. That's what I said. Did you have a point or...?
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