5 ms·

Define silver bullet. Because it doesn't really bring us closer to stuff like self driving cars.

by kabes 3y ago

mdp2021 3y ago
There is an ironic possibility that the poster confused the expression "silver bullet" for something different from "fake solution placing hopes on shiny idols". (Probably - sorry, just analytically - by negating the expression "it is no silver bullet". Process that does not work, since it is the actual silver bullet that does nothing special.) Edit: although, reading better, the later poster reprised the expression, probably ironically, from the original poster. Sorry, I missed that in the original.
- losvedir 3y ago
  I don't quite understand your comment, but I think you have your definition of "silver bullet" backwards. It means a solution that works incredibly, almost magically, well.
  - mdp2021 3y ago
    No, it's just a bit complex, but it depends on use - and today it is for a number of reasons more common to see "silver bullet" for "ineffective but seducing". It is a (non-)"solution" that /is believed/ to «work incredibly, almost magically, well». It works in a fable and not outside. One of the first occurrences of the idea was the response of the Oracle of Delphi to Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander), "With silver arms you may conquer the world". In this case the idea made sense on all planes: Philip understood that he could use bribery to achieve victory, and it worked. But then the idea went on in folklore as a miraculous solution: you "could" use them against spells, then witches, then werewolves, vampires etc. Many reasons may conflate in the whole idea. What happens next is the capillary reach of the scientific mindset, placing silver and the said "evils it cures" in a different place, farther from "dreamlike" perspectives. So, today it is often said a "silver bullet" something that is said to be a "miraculous solution" - but that in reality is just a piece of shiny, alluring metal working well as an excuse to seduce a public in search of hopes, however ill-placed. Populists e.g. are said to have "silver bullets" ready against any sociopolitical illness - they have "solutions" presented as a miracle cure, but they just do not stand scientifically, effectively - though they may be effective in prolonging a career as an elected representative.
    - losvedir 3y ago
      > No, it's just a bit complex, but it depends on use - and today it is for a number of reasons more common to see "silver bullet" for "ineffective but seducing". It is a (non-)"solution" that /is believed/ to «work incredibly, almost magically, well». It works in a fable and not outside. Yes, you're re-asserting that, but I still disagree, at least in my dialect of General American English. Maybe you're in the UK and it's different there? In my experience, you almost always hear it as part of the negative: "X is not a silver bullet". That phrase has your meaning of "ineffective but seducing". The implication then is that the silver bullet is effective. Magically so. Everyone associates it with the only thing that can kill a werewolf. The thing that began this whole inane conversation was the mildly interesting use of "silver bullet" in the positive: > ChatGPT is the silver bullet, you can't convince me otherwise. The poster is taking the "no silver bullet" idiom and flipping it on its head. The "standard" usage would say "ChatGPT is no silver bullet", meaning it's not a magical solution to all problems. By negating it (and using the idiom unusually in the positive), they're saying that it is magically effective and can work on all problems.
      - mdp2021 3y ago
        > inane Well, if you find it uninteresting, do not make it happen. I just showed you a bit of history of the expression, including the warning - do not assume that (especially globally) it is used your way. (Yes, if you are Tennessee it may be more frequently one way, in Singapore maybe the opposite...) You write «Everyone associates it with the only thing that can kill a werewolf» - and I am telling you that in fact that covers the slice of the population that also holds that silver bullets are in fact completely ineffective, in spite of the story, although it has consideration among people who mentally live in the world where werewolves roam. > The poster is It is clear what the user did: in fact, posts ago, I noticed that it is «ironic». The poster said "it is a silver bullet", and that is peculiar because some would reply to that "do not forget your magic cloak to approach more confidently", or similar.
        losvedir 3y ago
        Look, there's nothing unusual or ironic about the use of "silver bullet" in either the top level comment or the first response. That's just how the idiom is used. I would be curious if you could offer an example of "silver bullet" used as you're saying some people do. All the examples I can find are the the way I've been saying. For example, the top three Google News hits for "silver bullet": * Be excited about EPR, even if it’s not a silver bullet [0] * Immigration: Silver Bullet for Nursing Shortage? [1] * Offsets Are Not A Silver Bullet [2] In all of these, "silver bullet" could be replaced with "totally effective solution". That's how OP used it as well. You're saying that a "silver bullet" could mean "ineffective but seducing". If that were the case, the headlines would instead be: * Be excited about EPR, because it's not a silver bullet. * Offsets Are A Silver Bullet. I've never seen it used that way. And that's not how the OP used it or the first commenter interpreted it. It's not impossible it's used differently somewhere, if so I'd be curious to know. I know, for example, that "the point is moot" and "let's table the discussion" have opposite meanings in British and American English, for example. [0] https://www.greenbiz.com/article/be-excited-about-epr-even-if-its-not-silver-bullet https://www.greenbiz.com/article/be-excited-about-epr-even-i... [1] https://www.globest.com/2023/04/11/immigration-silver-bullet-for-nursing-shortage/?slreturn=20230315140156 https://www.globest.com/2023/04/11/immigration-silver-bullet... [3] https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/04/06/offsets-are-not-a-silver-bullet/ https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/04/06/offsets-are-not-a-silver...
SanderNL 3y ago
It doesn’t? Given all data of surroundings, isn’t “driving” completing the next “token” (action)?
karmasimida 3y ago
ChatGPT is AN answer as how to create AI. Simple as that. It works as a natural language parser that works the same as human. It is the holy grail that NLP community trying to find, one mechanism that can be commanded by plain English. If it can program, then it can drive cars. Driving is inherently a low level task comparing to programming, hundreds of millions Americans can drive, far fewer can program. But ChatGPT is just blind at the moment. Next step is to make it see, and walk and use its fingers. Won't be too far away in the future.
- mdp2021 3y ago
  > works the same as human Very certainly not, until you show that it has reflection - critical thinking -, which has many times shown not to have. > Simple as that As already expressed, you cannot just dump personal positions "porque [t]e sale de l'alma" (Borges).
  - chaxor 3y ago
    Reflexion*
    - mdp2021 3y ago
      Thanks! It brings us to some checks. But I read > Spelling with -ct- recorded from late 14c., established 18c., by influence of the verb. OED considers the version with -x- to be "the etymological spelling", but Fowler (1926 - «A clear differentiation being out of the question, and the variation of form being without essential significance...») points out that -ct- is usual in the general senses and even technical ones Actually, I would say that 'reflection' is the more proper. 'Reflexion' reflects the French spelling, so it is "«etymological»" in the sense of "post-Hastings 1066" (i.e. tracing the history), but in Latin it is 'flectere' (hence 're-flectere'). "Flectere" is already an action, so "reflection" is proper for the faculty.
      - chaxor 3y ago
        Sorry, this was meant to be a semi-sarcastic reference to the paper by Northeastern. They use "Reflexion" in the title. It's a paper about how these systems improve their responses by simply allowing their outputs to be 'reflected upon' by the system. For instance, they are able to improve something like ~60% to ~87% by simply allowing the 'reflection' upon what was just output.

Define silver bullet. Because it doesn't really bring us closer to stuff like self driving cars.

by kabes 3y ago

Define silver bullet. Because it doesn't really bring us closer to stuff like self driving cars.

mdp2021 3y ago

There is an ironic possibility that the poster confused the expression "silver bullet" for something different from "fake solution placing hopes on shiny idols". (Probably - sorry, just analytically - by negating the expression "it is no silver bullet". Process that does not work, since it is the actual silver bullet that does nothing special.) Edit: although, reading better, the later poster reprised the expression, probably ironically, from the original poster. Sorry, I missed that in the original.

losvedir 3y ago
I don't quite understand your comment, but I think you have your definition of "silver bullet" backwards. It means a solution that works incredibly, almost magically, well.
- mdp2021 3y ago
  No, it's just a bit complex, but it depends on use - and today it is for a number of reasons more common to see "silver bullet" for "ineffective but seducing". It is a (non-)"solution" that /is believed/ to «work incredibly, almost magically, well». It works in a fable and not outside. One of the first occurrences of the idea was the response of the Oracle of Delphi to Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander), "With silver arms you may conquer the world". In this case the idea made sense on all planes: Philip understood that he could use bribery to achieve victory, and it worked. But then the idea went on in folklore as a miraculous solution: you "could" use them against spells, then witches, then werewolves, vampires etc. Many reasons may conflate in the whole idea. What happens next is the capillary reach of the scientific mindset, placing silver and the said "evils it cures" in a different place, farther from "dreamlike" perspectives. So, today it is often said a "silver bullet" something that is said to be a "miraculous solution" - but that in reality is just a piece of shiny, alluring metal working well as an excuse to seduce a public in search of hopes, however ill-placed. Populists e.g. are said to have "silver bullets" ready against any sociopolitical illness - they have "solutions" presented as a miracle cure, but they just do not stand scientifically, effectively - though they may be effective in prolonging a career as an elected representative.
  - losvedir 3y ago
    > No, it's just a bit complex, but it depends on use - and today it is for a number of reasons more common to see "silver bullet" for "ineffective but seducing". It is a (non-)"solution" that /is believed/ to «work incredibly, almost magically, well». It works in a fable and not outside. Yes, you're re-asserting that, but I still disagree, at least in my dialect of General American English. Maybe you're in the UK and it's different there? In my experience, you almost always hear it as part of the negative: "X is not a silver bullet". That phrase has your meaning of "ineffective but seducing". The implication then is that the silver bullet is effective. Magically so. Everyone associates it with the only thing that can kill a werewolf. The thing that began this whole inane conversation was the mildly interesting use of "silver bullet" in the positive: > ChatGPT is the silver bullet, you can't convince me otherwise. The poster is taking the "no silver bullet" idiom and flipping it on its head. The "standard" usage would say "ChatGPT is no silver bullet", meaning it's not a magical solution to all problems. By negating it (and using the idiom unusually in the positive), they're saying that it is magically effective and can work on all problems.
    - mdp2021 3y ago
      > inane Well, if you find it uninteresting, do not make it happen. I just showed you a bit of history of the expression, including the warning - do not assume that (especially globally) it is used your way. (Yes, if you are Tennessee it may be more frequently one way, in Singapore maybe the opposite...) You write «Everyone associates it with the only thing that can kill a werewolf» - and I am telling you that in fact that covers the slice of the population that also holds that silver bullets are in fact completely ineffective, in spite of the story, although it has consideration among people who mentally live in the world where werewolves roam. > The poster is It is clear what the user did: in fact, posts ago, I noticed that it is «ironic». The poster said "it is a silver bullet", and that is peculiar because some would reply to that "do not forget your magic cloak to approach more confidently", or similar.
      - losvedir 3y ago
        Look, there's nothing unusual or ironic about the use of "silver bullet" in either the top level comment or the first response. That's just how the idiom is used. I would be curious if you could offer an example of "silver bullet" used as you're saying some people do. All the examples I can find are the the way I've been saying. For example, the top three Google News hits for "silver bullet": * Be excited about EPR, even if it’s not a silver bullet [0] * Immigration: Silver Bullet for Nursing Shortage? [1] * Offsets Are Not A Silver Bullet [2] In all of these, "silver bullet" could be replaced with "totally effective solution". That's how OP used it as well. You're saying that a "silver bullet" could mean "ineffective but seducing". If that were the case, the headlines would instead be: * Be excited about EPR, because it's not a silver bullet. * Offsets Are A Silver Bullet. I've never seen it used that way. And that's not how the OP used it or the first commenter interpreted it. It's not impossible it's used differently somewhere, if so I'd be curious to know. I know, for example, that "the point is moot" and "let's table the discussion" have opposite meanings in British and American English, for example. [0] https://www.greenbiz.com/article/be-excited-about-epr-even-if-its-not-silver-bullet https://www.greenbiz.com/article/be-excited-about-epr-even-i... [1] https://www.globest.com/2023/04/11/immigration-silver-bullet-for-nursing-shortage/?slreturn=20230315140156 https://www.globest.com/2023/04/11/immigration-silver-bullet... [3] https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/04/06/offsets-are-not-a-silver-bullet/ https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/04/06/offsets-are-not-a-silver...

SanderNL 3y ago

It doesn’t? Given all data of surroundings, isn’t “driving” completing the next “token” (action)?

karmasimida 3y ago

ChatGPT is AN answer as how to create AI. Simple as that. It works as a natural language parser that works the same as human. It is the holy grail that NLP community trying to find, one mechanism that can be commanded by plain English. If it can program, then it can drive cars. Driving is inherently a low level task comparing to programming, hundreds of millions Americans can drive, far fewer can program. But ChatGPT is just blind at the moment. Next step is to make it see, and walk and use its fingers. Won't be too far away in the future.

mdp2021 3y ago
> works the same as human Very certainly not, until you show that it has reflection - critical thinking -, which has many times shown not to have. > Simple as that As already expressed, you cannot just dump personal positions "porque [t]e sale de l'alma" (Borges).
- chaxor 3y ago
  Reflexion*
  - mdp2021 3y ago
    Thanks! It brings us to some checks. But I read > Spelling with -ct- recorded from late 14c., established 18c., by influence of the verb. OED considers the version with -x- to be "the etymological spelling", but Fowler (1926 - «A clear differentiation being out of the question, and the variation of form being without essential significance...») points out that -ct- is usual in the general senses and even technical ones Actually, I would say that 'reflection' is the more proper. 'Reflexion' reflects the French spelling, so it is "«etymological»" in the sense of "post-Hastings 1066" (i.e. tracing the history), but in Latin it is 'flectere' (hence 're-flectere'). "Flectere" is already an action, so "reflection" is proper for the faculty.
    - chaxor 3y ago
      Sorry, this was meant to be a semi-sarcastic reference to the paper by Northeastern. They use "Reflexion" in the title. It's a paper about how these systems improve their responses by simply allowing their outputs to be 'reflected upon' by the system. For instance, they are able to improve something like ~60% to ~87% by simply allowing the 'reflection' upon what was just output.