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Yes, aware of the reference and hence the cringe. 'Attention is all you need' is a clever play on words for a seminal paper whose title directly related to its

Yes, aware of the reference and hence the cringe. 'Attention is all you need' is a clever play on words for a seminal paper whose title directly related to its main scientific contribution. Not sure that every other AI-related paper needs to copy this format, this trend is the academic equivalent of click-baiting (seemingly trying to associate with the Vaswani et al paper) and in my anecdotal experience the usage of this play on words seems inversely correlated with the paper's quality.

earleybird 4y ago
I believe it has an analogue with Heinlein's "there are two kinds of jokes; funny always and funny one time". Subsequent uses are a bit cringe in the same way that a subsequent telling of a funny-one-time joke is.
ryanmcbride 4y ago
Those kinds of references/cliches in titles always bug me too. Always feels lazy. I chalk this one up there with: Dr. Strangelove Titles - "<product>: or how I learned to stop <doing something> and love <idea>" Dairy Farmers of America reference - "Got <Product>?" Breakin' 2 reference - "<Product> 2, Electric Boogaloo" Honorable Mention, titles that end in phrases like "And That's a Good Thing!", "Here's What That Means", "This is Why That Matters"
- hyperdimension 4y ago
  "Repeated Tropes Considered Harmful"
nextaccountic 4y ago
> 'Attention is all you need' is a clever play on words Can you elaborate? (I'm not a native speaker)
- jrvarela56 4y ago
  I think the clever play on words is the fact that the title is cute and references the main finding directly: transformers have a mechanism called 'self-attention' that distinguishes them from previous approaches.
  - soulofmischief 4y ago
    Also likely referencing "Love is all you need", from The Beatles' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Love https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Love
wallscratch 4y ago
I’m sorry, but what is the play on words in the title “Attention is all you need” here?
- haldujai 4y ago
  "love is all you need" is the Beatles lyric they're referencing, the title could also be read as a statement on the basic human need for attention, like love, so it's a play on words for me. Do you prefer humorous allusion?

earleybird 4y ago

I believe it has an analogue with Heinlein's "there are two kinds of jokes; funny always and funny one time". Subsequent uses are a bit cringe in the same way that a subsequent telling of a funny-one-time joke is.

ryanmcbride 4y ago

Those kinds of references/cliches in titles always bug me too. Always feels lazy. I chalk this one up there with: Dr. Strangelove Titles - "<product>: or how I learned to stop <doing something> and love <idea>" Dairy Farmers of America reference - "Got <Product>?" Breakin' 2 reference - "<Product> 2, Electric Boogaloo" Honorable Mention, titles that end in phrases like "And That's a Good Thing!", "Here's What That Means", "This is Why That Matters"

hyperdimension 4y ago
"Repeated Tropes Considered Harmful"

nextaccountic 4y ago

> 'Attention is all you need' is a clever play on words Can you elaborate? (I'm not a native speaker)

jrvarela56 4y ago
I think the clever play on words is the fact that the title is cute and references the main finding directly: transformers have a mechanism called 'self-attention' that distinguishes them from previous approaches.
- soulofmischief 4y ago
  Also likely referencing "Love is all you need", from The Beatles' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Love https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Love

wallscratch 4y ago

I’m sorry, but what is the play on words in the title “Attention is all you need” here?

haldujai 4y ago
"love is all you need" is the Beatles lyric they're referencing, the title could also be read as a statement on the basic human need for attention, like love, so it's a play on words for me. Do you prefer humorous allusion?