ebcode

>> And the problem is more - how can an LLM tell us it doesn't know something instead of just making up good sounding, but completely delusional answers.

I think the mistake lies in the belief that the LLM "knows" things. As humans, we have a strong tendency to anthropomorphize. And so, when we see something behave in a certain way, we imagine that thing to be doing the same thing that we do when we behave that way.

I'm writing, and the machine is also writing, but what I'm doing when I write is very different from what the machine does when it writes. So the mistake is to say, or think, "I think when I write, so the machine must also think when it writes."

We probably need to address the usage of the word "hallucination", and maybe realize that the LLM is always hallucinating.

Not: "When it's right, it's right, but when it's wrong, it's hallucinating." It's more like, "Sweet! Some of these hallucinations are on point!"

>> (And, if there is any other core concept I am missing, I would love to hear that too.)

When you get into parallel programming, I think you'll need more than just those 4. But I'm not sure what the reduction is. Something akin to forking and joining.

Finnegans Wake

Thanks for posting this. For those unaware, Weizenbaum wrote one of the first chatbots, ELIZA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Weizenbaum

Not sure if this is the same lecture that Ritchie cites, but for anyone who hasn't seen this one by Rosling, it's worth a watch: https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_best_stats_you_ve...

See https://discourse.processing.org/t/ben-fry-resigning-from-th...

or spending too much time with bots...

That would be octillions of light-years...

In 2012, Intel had a site called esaa-members.com. It was supposed to be some type of authorized hardware catalog, with recipes for building computers out of known-to-be compatible parts. Anyways, there was a daily import of the hardware data, which was kicked off by a small Ruby script that downloaded some CSV file over SFTP. It was tiny, and all it did was put the CSV in a folder, to be processed by another script down the line. Occasionally though, there would be a network error, and it wouldn't write the file. When this happened, the next script that looked for the file wouldn't find it, and would send out an email alert.

That's when I discovered that you could write a GOTO statement in Ruby! I made a very minor addition to the beginning and end of the script, a label at the top, and a goto at the bottom for if the CSV file didn't exist. I had added my email to the list of alerts, and after that GOTO was added, I never saw another alert.

Sometimes the mods will repost something at a more opportune time to stimulate the discussion. Maybe that'll happen here.

All of us need help. But not all of us can belong.

Then there's still hope!

> All software contains bugs, unexpected failure modes, and undiscovered security vulnerabilities. I am convinced that there are essentially zero exceptions to these claims.

/bin/true (humbly submitted as a non-zero exception to those claims)

> is software/system development the only field where masters of their craft ultimately become directors?

Theatre and Cinema are two other fields where folks have been known to work their way up to director/producer/megalomaniac...

I think Weinberg in "The Psychology of Computer Programming" talks about the performative nature of writing code.

As a US Citizen who has had their twitter posts censored, I consider myself to be a critic of the US Government who has been effectively silenced. At a certain point you have to decide whether you are willing to die for your cause, or live with your shame.

> I feel Twitter should have protected me, instead of protecting the henchmen of a facist regime bent upon silencing critics.

The West no longer deserves its reputation for fighting fascists. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Get angry. Fight. Don't let another child get killed.

I can recommend "Universal Algebra" by P.M. Cohn

ITPro has a recent write-up: https://www.itpro.com/hardware/361331/the-true-story-behind-...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus%3A_The_Forbin_Project -- from 1970

In reality it could be both: meteor-flinging aliens.

Thanks. I hadn't realized he was such a snitch.

> including doxxing people who have left bad reviews on his books

source?

I used to say, "It's always darkest before the dawn, so bring on the darkness." My younger self is quite happy with the way things are going, but my present self thinks my younger self is a fool.

And if you follow the link at the bottom of that post, you'll find what the thermocline consists of:

>There was upper Apple management, basking in the sun; the great mass of Apple employees below; and between the two, a constantly shifting layer of middle managers whose function appeared to be to keep the two groups from mixing.[0]

[0] http://andstillipersist.com/2006/08/guerrilla-programming-li...

Firefighters in California had a law passed that prevents cell phone towers from being placed on fire station property[0]. They complained of headaches and nausea from living near the antennae.

As a species and a culture, it seems we're just finding out about the precautionary principle. We should be more careful.

[0] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml... (search for "fire")

.pot ot mottob morf ti daer ot evah ouy taht si hgouht sdrawkcab gnitirw htiw melborp ehT .ti edulcni dna kcabdeef ruoy etaroprocni lliw srenwo etis eht ebyaM .dnif ot gnipoh saw I pilf niarb eht saw sihT.

> I don't get how so many people are political on a site largely concerning itself with employment.

Because employment, like almost everything else in life, is political[0].

[0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/politics (see definition 5 a, especially)

just because there's a giant market for (covering up) something, doesn't mean it isn't normal and expected. Women's leg hair comes to mind. Also wrinkle cream.

Advertising makes us do things we might not otherwise do, is what I'm saying.

Anyone here able to explain how this works? (Guessing there isn't a single SLIP[0] programmer around)

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLIP_(programming_language)