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Proof of Corn

proofofcorn.com

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Re: Proof of Corn

#61

Post by nonethewiser »

tekno45 wrote: post #49
jdthedisciple wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Seth, as presumably a non-farmer, is doing professional farmer's work all on his own without prior experience? Is that what you're saying?

trying. until you can eat it, you're just fucking around.

Thats not the point of the original commenter. The point of the original commenter is that he expects Claude can inform him well enough to be a farm manager and its not impressive since Seth is the primary agent.

I think it is impressive if it works. Like I mentioned in a sibling comment I think it already definitely proves something LLMs have accomplished though, and that is giving people tremendous confidence to try things.

Re: Proof of Corn

#62

Post by culi »

jdthedisciple wrote: post #41
ppchain wrote: post #22

The point they seem to be making is that AI can "orchestrate" the real world even if it can't interact physically. I can definitely believe that in 2026 someone at their computer with access to money can send the right emails and make the right bank transfers to get real people to grow corn for you. However even by that metric I don't see how Claude is doing that. Seth is the one researching the suppliers "with the h…

So Seth, as presumably a non-farmer, is doing professional farmer's work all on his own without prior experience? Is that what you're saying?

Nobody is denying that this is AI-enabled but that's entirely different from "AI can grow corn".

Also Seth a non-farmer was already capable of using Google, online forums, and Sci-Hub/Libgen to access farming-related literature before LLMs came on the scene. In this case the LLM is just acting as a super-charged search engine. A great and useful technology, sure. But we're not utilizing any entirely novel capabilities here

And tbh until we take a good crack at World Models I doubt we can

Re: Proof of Corn

#63

Post by Night_Thastus »

jablongo wrote: post #46
Night_Thastus wrote: post #33

It's...interesting but I feel like people keep forgetting that LLMs like Claude don't really...think(?). Or learn. Or know what 'corn' or a 'tractor' is. They don't really have any memory of past experiences or a working memory of some current state. They're (very impressive) next word predictors. If you ask it 'is it time to order more seeds?' and the internet is full of someone answering 'no' - that's the answer it…

I think you could have credibly said this for a while during 2024 and earlier, but there is a lot of research that indicates LLMs are more than stochastic parrots, as some researchers claimed earlier on. Souped up versions of LLMs have performed at the gold medal level in the IMO, which should give you pause in dismissing them. "It can't actually understand how many there currently are, the season, how much land, etc…

They are 100% stochastic parrots.

The worlds most impressive stochastic parrot, resulting from billions of dollars of research by some of the world's most advanced mathematicians and computer scientists.

And capable of some very impressive things. But pretending their limitations don't exist doesn't serve anyone.

Re: Proof of Corn

#64

Post by dieggsy »

nxobject wrote: post #60

Given how the front page's ASCII diagram is misaligned on my browser, I think I have a few concerns about factors that might lead to, well, oversights...

Ha! I was going to disagree, but then I realized I force most monospace html entities to use a specific font in my browser (using a wildcard stylus stylesheet). This is quite nice to normalize things (and sidestep atrocious font choices) actually.

Anyway, turned it off; sure enough, misaligned.

Re: Proof of Corn

#66

Post by orange_joe »

contra-pessimism: My parents run a small organic farm on the east coast — (greenhouses, not row crops) and they extensively use chatgpt for decision making They obviously haven’t built out agentic data gathering, but can easily prompt it with the required information. they’re quite happy with everything.

I’m guessing this will screw up in assuming infinite labor & equipment liqudity.

Re: Proof of Corn

#68

Post by jovial_cavalier »

deejaaymac wrote: post #23
jayd16 wrote: post #11

I'm not a huge fan of these experiments that subject the public to your random AI spam. So far it's bothered 10 companies directly with no legal authority to actually follow up with what is requested?

I'm not a huge fan of the unsolicited spam/letters/coupons/etc I get in my mail box from businesses and there's no way for me to opt out.

You can actually act on the advertisements and coupons, though. And the companies who sent those offers to you are obligated to abide by them. This potentially would be like if you got a BOGO coupon in the mail and when you tried to redeem it, they just pretended like it didn't exist.

Re: Proof of Corn

#69

Post by nonethewiser »

jayd16 wrote: post #11

I'm not a huge fan of these experiments that subject the public to your random AI spam. So far it's bothered 10 companies directly with no legal authority to actually follow up with what is requested?

>So far it's bothered 10 companies directly with no legal authority to actually follow up with what is requested?

Aren't these companies in the business of leasing land? I dont see how contacting them about leasing land would be spam or bothering them. And I dont really know what you mean by "with no legal authority to actually follow up with what is requested."

Re: Proof of Corn

#70

Post by socalgal2 »

HN type "about the website itself, not it's content" comment but ... it would be great if we could somehow get the major browser vendors to agree on some monospaced fonts. I'm on M1 Mac and the small ASCII diagram, nothing lines up (Safari/Firefox/Chrome). I see this on many ASCII diagrams. Maybe that's the site's fault. Not sure)
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