Readit NewsDecayingOrganic commented on Benchmarking GPT-4 Turbo – A Cautionary Tale blog.mentat.ai/benchmarki... · Posted by u/ja3k
> We designed a test for this theory: we reran the benchmarks without showing the models the instructions to each exercise. Instead, we just told them that they were Exercism exercises, and gave them the exercise names and function stubs.
This summarizes all my skepticism agains the AI field. Pretty clear that they aren't solving the problem, they have them memorized.
Memorization often gets a bad rap as the underachiever's shortcut. However, it's a fundamental component of any learning process! Our ability to reason, solve problems, and innovate is all built upon a foundation of memorized information. In fact, it's precisely the reason humans have thrived for so long; we were able to memorize and pass down knowledge culturally long before the written word, not because we were 100 times smarter than our nearest cousins. Without memorization, be it in our brains or AI algorithms, there's no foundation to build upon for higher reasoning.
DecayingOrganic commented on Drugmakers are set to pay 23andMe to access consumer DNA bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/htrp
I m glad they use the data, and have volunteered my data to other services as well. This was actually my reasoning for using these services from the beginning. It's sad that laws prevent them from giving us health reports.
DNA data is not worth protecting imho, and the benefits from their public use are very big. The DNA degrees-of-separation between any two humans is less than 3, so we are all traceable anyway already, and people should be aware of that. But the science/health benefits that can come out of this remain enormous.
Just because the benefits of sharing DNA data appear large, doesn't mean we should take potential drawbacks lightly. Imagine this: a future where a specific gene is linked to hard work. Companies start screening job applicants based purely on their genetic makeup -- if you don't have the gene, you don't get the job. Or even more worryingly, imagine the government starts surveillance on a group of people with a particular gene, claiming they're more likely to commit a certain crime based on some obscure study. It would lead to moral and ethical havoc. DNA data might not seem worth protecting right now, but unchecked, the misuse could be catastrophic.
DecayingOrganic commented on My solopreneur story news.tonydinh.com/p/my-so... · Posted by u/alexzeitler
I've noticed that negative comments often float to the top. That’s a bit of a bummer. No one's entrepreneurial success should make you question your life choices or become a reason for your frustration.
Congratulations Tony! I remember the time you quit your job and set a goal of reaching $10K/mo with a few products on twitter, it seemed crazy. But you pulled it off! Hats off to you.
DecayingOrganic commented on About math limitations alexmolas.com/2023/07/18/... · Posted by u/alexmolas
If you consider that mathematical ideas are discovered rather than invented, then the whole point becomes moot. Sure, we may not be smart enough to discover all of it, but we can be pretty certain there is still mathematics beyond our ability to understand it. As an analogy, we'll never be able to look at or visit beyond our cosmic horizon, but it's certain there are stars and galaxies out there.
Math as we know it, due to Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems, is not fully consistent - we can't even prove everything that is true with our current mathematical framework. This means that our understanding of math is indeed limited, not just by our intellectual capabilities, but by the very structure of the math we currently use also.
This makes me wonder, will we be able to develop new mathematical frameworks that bypass these issues? And if so, what will they look like?
Stuff like this is why I believe software engineering ought to start requiring a professional license.
Even with heavy licensing in the medical field, research cites medical errors like wrong diagnoses and surgical mishaps causing over 250,000 US deaths yearly [0]. Granted, some studies argue over the exact number, but the core truth remains. Licenses don't eliminate human error.
DecayingOrganic commented on Apollo will close down on June 30th old.reddit.com/r/apolloap... · Posted by u/timf
>I wish you had done this impartially for both parties
instead of your thought experiment, I'd request you just pose your impartial take on the most charitable view for Steve and explain why in that view it was a reasonable act of good leadership for him to make these comments. Otherwise I don't think we're really talking about the same thing.
You've quoted the transcript elsewhere for people to "decide for themselves" and I'm not sure how you could be convinced we all did in fact read it and already did, and just don't agree with you.
Well, I don't agree with myself too anymore! I stand correct, and I apologize for the confusion I created with my poor argument. I need to read more carefully.
I have time and again fell victim to fulfill all the prerequisites before I begin to attempt to understand a topic. This is a mistake I have made repeatedly. I now understand why this is tempting to do and why it is a mistake.
It is tempting to do so because you feel things will come easier to you if you fulfill the prerequisites first. But the problem is that there is just not enough time. AND, it actually may not be even necessary.
It is a mistake to do so because you are wasting time and ultimately it may not be necessary after all.
Even in a field such as pure mathematics (I have an MS in pure Math), it is okay to skim through some of the background material and understand it intuitively or even non-rigorously, while focusing on what you want to actually learn.
It took me a while to learn that and I am glad it is being repeated here by such an accomplished professor.
I've grown to really like this Richard Feynman quote: “Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.” It feels like I've been finally granted permission to embrace my natural, messy way of learning.