[FRIAM] more bullsh¡t

Sat Jan 7 02:43:28 EST 2023

[image: image.png]

On Sat, 7 Jan 2023 at 09:04, Pieter Steenekamp <pieters at randcontrols.co.za>
wrote:

> In my current perspective, the integration of automation and artificial
> intelligence *in the coming decade* will significantly impact employment
> opportunities. However, I also believe that in this future, there will be
> an abundance of material resources, allowing individuals to access the
> products and services they desire within the limitations of physical laws.
> It is impossible to predict the future with certainty, but these are my
> current speculations based on my observations.
>
> In terms of education, I advocate for a system that allows for self-guided
> learning rather than mandatory teaching. By creating an environment that
> supports learning and inviting guest instructors for specialized knowledge,
> students can pursue their interests and passions. Even if some students
> attempt to abuse the system, the benefits of fostering a love for learning
> outweigh any potential harm.
>
> Full disclosure: I haven't kissed the Blarney Stone and wrote a paragraph,
> but it did not sound good. So I asked ChatGPT to rephrase and upon reading
> I went yes this is exactly my point and it almost sounds as if I have
> kissed the bloody stone. So the above is my exact message but rephrased
> eloquently by ChatGPT.
>
> On Fri, 6 Jan 2023 at 12:19, David Eric Smith <desmith at santafe.edu> wrote:
>
>> Your use of chatGTP, Pieter, is to my mind a very interesting thread.
>>
>> There was a columnist for the New York Times many years ago, named
>> William Safire.  I don’t even remember now what he wrote about, but he was
>> known, and was significant to me, for being an example of “a good writer”.
>>
>> Safire wrote something (column?  book?  article?) with the theme that, if
>> one would write creatively, one should first do several years galley-rowing
>> as an editor somewhere.  People who have an impulse to write “creatively”
>> imagine all kinds of innovation in language that will be just dramatic and
>> wonderful.  Editors, who have had to deal with those imaginations in the
>> writings of others, know that most such ideas are awful and need to be
>> beaten out of the writer if he or she is ever to become good.  So Safire’s
>> thesis was that you really need to do this, for a number of years and a
>> large number of other people’s pieces, to squeeze the nonsense out of you
>> and develop a solid understanding of your language.  Kind of like, in books
>> on French cooking, the author says “why did we have to spend the first year
>> cooking mixed vegetables in mayonnaise over and over again; I don’t even
>> like mixed vegetables in mayonnaise.  To which the answer, of course, is
>> that one develops what the French term “method”: experience with uniform
>> sizing of each ingredient, correct relative sizing across ingredients, time
>> of introduction to heat, and on and on, so that one gets control and has
>> everything cooked to the intended degree reliably.  Only then has one
>> gained the tools to create.
>>
>> I have run Safire’s thesis by some writers I know to see what happened;
>> my notable memories are the ones who hate it and think it is completely
>> wrong.
>>
>> But to Glen’s point that we should think of literary AI the way we think
>> of pocket calculators (another thing I was not allowed to have in school;
>> my parents thought it would make me stupid).  ChatGTP can be sort of the
>> William Safire level of basic method in language, not intending or intended
>> to create anything, but somehow, as you say, to find a kind of solid and
>> central expression for things.  One might even think of the appropriate
>> training schedule for a tool meant to do just that, which could be a bit
>> different from the ad hoc training that is probably first-gen of these
>> tools.
>>
>> Eric
>>
>> On Jan 6, 2023, at 12:59 AM, Pieter Steenekamp <
>> pieters at randcontrols.co.za> wrote:
>>
>> As a native of South Africa, I have personally witnessed the shortcomings
>> of both our public primary and secondary education systems and the
>> financial barriers that prevent many from accessing private schools. In
>> response, I have dedicated the past year to establishing a private
>> institution that is not only affordable, but also committed to providing a
>> high-quality education. In reflecting on what constitutes a truly valuable
>> education, I have come to the conclusion that the most essential outcome is
>> not the acquisition of academic skills, but rather the development of
>> strong relationships - both with oneself and with the outside world. While
>> it is not possible to directly teach children how to cultivate such
>> relationships, it is possible to create an environment in which they can
>> learn and grow through unsupervised interactions with their peers.
>>
>> Full disclosure: I have not kissed  Blarney Stone and my ability to write
>> (or speak for that matter) eloquently is just awful. I've written a
>> paragraph and then I asked chatGPT, who have kissed the Blamey Stone, to
>> rephrase it more eloquently. The above paragraph reflects exactly what I
>> wish to say, but is just expressed so much better.
>>
>> On Fri, 6 Jan 2023 at 00:39, glen <gepropella at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> AI, Teaching, and "Our Willingness to Give Bullshit a Pass"
>>>
>>> https://dailynous.com/2023/01/05/ai-teaching-and-our-willingness-to-give-bullshit-a-pass/
>>> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fdailynous.com%2f2023%2f01%2f05%2fai-teaching-and-our-willingness-to-give-bullshit-a-pass%2f&c=E,1,WHKkhx-F6VtAb7Uzs4i2CJ4V-wM6HU566Hr7SjVK_PVCM4iLBtg-uC90pNH4VOqk-qKP9pEv-jkEuTZASVMEIMa603ieYvVi8uRqX2w7TFfY&typo=1>
>>>
>>> The first time I heard this argument was from these guys:
>>>
>>>
>>> https://www.audible.com/pd/Pill-Pod-104-AI-the-New-Crisis-of-Humanities-Education-Podcast/B0BPQ77Z8P
>>>
>>> My phrasing of the idea being that tools like ChatGPT are analogous to
>>> calculators, allowing the computer to do what it's good at and freeing
>>> humans up to do what we're good at. Why require students to learn bullshit
>>> rhetorical styling when we can teach them to think about the *substance*
>>> ... a lesson many of us learned from Knuth's TeX a long time ago. The trick
>>> is that tools like ChatGPT are built around the bullshit-generation use
>>> case. What we need are tools built around the bullshit-detection use case.
>>>
>>> With branch prediction, we could implant a little device just under the
>>> eardrum that listened to someone's speech acts for a tiny fraction, predict
>>> where it was going, and call bullshit or "pay attention" for some interval.
>>> The bullshitters' rhetoric would never even reach your audio perception
>>> devices. ... like trigger warnings for all of us sensitive snowflakes who
>>> can't bear to look on images of Mohammed <
>>> https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2023/01/05/hamline-university-assailed-for-firing-professor-who-showed-images-of-muhammads-face/
>>> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwhyevolutionistrue.com%2f2023%2f01%2f05%2fhamline-university-assailed-for-firing-professor-who-showed-images-of-muhammads-face%2f&c=E,1,bwmwYt4o7Qd9zZNvZoqOcAN3ATYO7nS64GXGtrvDwy9RfZebm92-10VsEQyFEmiNgVEIlUxSm-fylKxh-Qz_a_MoFV5V6aN2qj1l7D_vU7cVtmb0J8wGk-FI&typo=1>
>>> >.
>>>
>>> Those of us who've kissed the Blarney Stone, unfortunately, would spend
>>> our lives talking to brick walls.
>>>
>>> --
>>> ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ
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