4 ms·

I think we're seeing the early phases a prediction I made in my first book come true: That computers will be more suitable than humans for most of the functions

I think we're seeing the early phases a prediction I made in my first book come true: That computers will be more suitable than humans for most of the functions humans currently use their left brain half for. Best case, that will have a whole lot more humans using their right brain halves on things like defining the problem. I like the thought of that, it's more pleasant work. But a lot of intelligent people define their intelligence by how well their left brain half works and uncomfortable with how good Chatgpt is at those tasks. I think you're pointing out there's more to programming than left-brain activities, and I think you're right that silicon will never eclipse carbon at those challenges, but I think a lot of people are also feeling threatened by the fact that chatgpt is getting better and better at the thing they used to be better than all humans at.

davemp 4y ago
> But a lot of intelligent people define their intelligence by how well their left brain half works and uncomfortable with how good Chatgpt is at those tasks. I think 'left brain' work also has a lot more predictability (knowing you can churn out ~X widgets/hr) so having only uncertain 'right brain' work can be uncomfortable for people to build their livelihoods upon. That being said. 'right brain' work is certainly more fulfilling for me.
- danuker 4y ago
  > can be uncomfortable for people to build their livelihoods upon Absolutely. Not everyone can be consistently creative, and without a large enough financial buffer, it's a recipe for disaster.
- SuoDuanDao 4y ago
  Great point. That's one reason I'm increasingly a single-issue voter focused on UBI.
Quarrelsome 4y ago
I feel like there's a slight inaccuracy here that this article covers. GPT-like models excel at logical problems that have already been solved. As the article suggests the models (at least at the moment) are extremely keen to utilise existing solutions as opposed to inventing new ones. The existing solutions end up somewhat being far too distracting when problem complexity compounds beyond the common. This implies that those truly talented at solving logical problems will still be spearheading the development of novel solutions. We might be able to state that GPT will easily trim away all the average workloads for both the left and right. It can perform "creative writing" or draw pictures to an average or even beyond average extent, but it continues to currently struggle to hit the exceptional examples that humanity are capable of.

davemp 4y ago

> But a lot of intelligent people define their intelligence by how well their left brain half works and uncomfortable with how good Chatgpt is at those tasks. I think 'left brain' work also has a lot more predictability (knowing you can churn out ~X widgets/hr) so having only uncertain 'right brain' work can be uncomfortable for people to build their livelihoods upon. That being said. 'right brain' work is certainly more fulfilling for me.

danuker 4y ago
> can be uncomfortable for people to build their livelihoods upon Absolutely. Not everyone can be consistently creative, and without a large enough financial buffer, it's a recipe for disaster.
SuoDuanDao 4y ago
Great point. That's one reason I'm increasingly a single-issue voter focused on UBI.

Quarrelsome 4y ago

I feel like there's a slight inaccuracy here that this article covers. GPT-like models excel at logical problems that have already been solved. As the article suggests the models (at least at the moment) are extremely keen to utilise existing solutions as opposed to inventing new ones. The existing solutions end up somewhat being far too distracting when problem complexity compounds beyond the common. This implies that those truly talented at solving logical problems will still be spearheading the development of novel solutions. We might be able to state that GPT will easily trim away all the average workloads for both the left and right. It can perform "creative writing" or draw pictures to an average or even beyond average extent, but it continues to currently struggle to hit the exceptional examples that humanity are capable of.