SMBC [2013-09-08]

Oh well done. Now I'm feeling warm and fuzzy.

This so wholesome... <3
- Very unexpected for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. A nice surprise for the morning.
- Haha, that's so far from reality though. Dad is talking about boring things again, I will cover my ears and scream.
  
  Children are often a mirror to our true selves. My daughter is fascinated by the world, and loves learning. She's a sponge for new knowledge. The only limitation is building up the layers of knowledge, to understand what you are trying to teach.
  
  My 6 year old loves to learn about math, sciences, a few other subjects to a lesser degree, plus practical stuff, like driving/traffic behavior. He mainly likes biological sciences and astronomy, but some physics and engineering.
  
  My exact thought reading the comic, young ppl would not like that.

It’s pretty fascinating that babies are largely the same across big timescales and just learn the culture of the time. They are ready to learn “utopia”, we just have to figure out how to teach it.

I was expecting the baby to pee in his face or something. Why have you tricked me into feelings, internet? Why?

I feel like my knowledge would be too basic. I’d get the gist of it but not well enough to replicate and they’d just humor me bc they'd think I’m special.
- I run up against that with my kiddos, so I just show them how to get answers and how to learn. When they get older, I'll teach them more about vetting sources and sussing out misinformation. I already have taught them as much about that as I can for their age.

I've had this very exact thought. I think the urge to tell the story of the world is parental instinct.
Whenever the kiddos ask a question, I don't stop answering and describing until they get bored... Sometimes beyond that.
- I have the same urge, but rather to be a teacher/mentor than a parent. Too bad the US doesn't want to pay teachers what they're worth, or I'd strongly consider a career change.
  
  I've had the exact same thought and it's not just in the US. Teachers are woefully underpaid in general. I think a part of the problem is that there's so many teachers that it would very expensive for society as a whole to give them a higher salary. I would totally do teaching if it paid better though.

very wholesome, 10/10 would recommend.

One of my favorites

This was on the door to my office before my life ended in 2018.
Thank you for making me remember and cry.
- Don't want to assume too much but I'm sorry for your loss.

daily reminder i will die alone.
- I've already resigned to the fact that I will probably die alone in an apartment not to be found for weeks because no one checks in on me other than my parents. I won't kill myself, but I'm not good at socializing
  
  Most people aren’t good at things they don’t practice. But lots of people get really good at things they weren’t good at.
- Daily reminder my parents weren't that great at parenting.

This was how conversations went with my dad when I was about 6. He'd wake up at 3am, smash a block of cream cheese, wonder into my room, leaving the door open, and then emphasize the importance of mathematics. Otherwise, apparently, I'd kill an astronaut. It's fun thinking back to the things he was trying to teach me then that I only understand now. Love you Dad.

Just give him a tablet with youtube kids on 24/7.

We've already got LLMs that can simulate conversing with those dead people to some degree, I wouldn't say they're beyond the reach of any technology. In a few years they might be good enough simulations that you can't tell the difference.
- LLMs are no better than speaking to a clever parrot. It might say the correct words but has no understanding and so there is no value in teaching it beyond a petty parlour trick.
  
  "Parrots only repeat" is a pretty archaic view in regards to animal psychology, though.
  LLM's are glorified chatbots but parrots can actually understand even. To what extent, that's very much debatable.
  Here's a good set of videos from Nativlang on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmkQLDJdhJI&list=PLc4s09N3L2h2lYeVD6pmax3f7qiHxyq3k
- People downvoted you but I don't think they touched on the main idea; I don't want to show Einstein modern physics for my entertainment, I want to teach it so he can be amazed.
- good enough simulations that you can't tell the difference.
  This requires us having actual conversations with those dead people to compare against, which we obviously can't do.
  There is simply not enough information to train a model on of a dead person to create a comprehensive model of how they would respond in arbitrary conversations. You may be able to train with some depth in their field of expertise, but the whole point is to talk about things which they have no experience with, or at least, things which weren't known then.
  So sure, maybe we get a model that makes you think you're talking to them, but that's no different than just having a dream or an acid trip where you're chatting with Einstein.
  
  There is simply not enough information to train a model on of a dead person to create a comprehensive model of how they would respond in arbitrary conversations.
  True. And even if we did, most of them would be super racist, anyway. Just like chatbots from a few years ago!
  Wait, maybe we do have the necessary technology...Hooray? Lol.
  
  Well, I'd think you'd test that model with living authors with similar inputs and make comparisons and then refine the process till nobody can tell the difference. We'll never get all the way there, but I bet we'll get far enough that we won't be able to tell the difference.
  As for when... Who knows?
- No, they are beyond the reach of any technology. An Isaac Newton themed chatbot isn't actually the spirit of Isaac Newton. It's a chatbot.
- Can't wait to ask my dead grandma to write a Python script for me
- Socrates character AI is no fun. He isn't clever or insightful or skeptical.
  
  As I said, wait a few years. The technology is rapidly advancing.