4 ms·

You are ignoring the fact that most of the writers are bullshit vendors regurgitating books, quotes, themes and things they read from somewhere else. If anythi

You are ignoring the fact that most of the writers are bullshit vendors regurgitating books, quotes, themes and things they read from somewhere else. If anything ChatGPT will basically filter out these sophists because it is a Chad-Sophist. The important thing now, is "depth" of knowledge. Of course, good generalists with wide array of mental models have their jiggle, but in the world of LLMs an individual's depth of knowledge trumps.

Swizec 4y ago
> but in the world of LLMs an individual's depth of knowledge trumps My favorite book genre is roughly “Academic writes popular book after 20 years of researching a topic”. That will be very hard to replace with ChatGPT. Someone like Gladwell though … yeah I can see LLMs being scary for that genre. Not quite yet, but soon.
- ebiester 4y ago
  Gladwell's strength is that he's an incredible storyteller. It will be a while before an LLM gets to that level.
  - Swizec 4y ago
    You are right. The stories are fantastic and he really makes the underlying research shine. I can see LLM + Human working great for that kind of writing. LLM writes the first draft, human makes it sing.
    - ghaff 4y ago
      Well, Gladwell constructs great stories out of a very selective reading of research. Not that many writers don't do this to some degree, but Gladwell in his more recent career has been widely criticized for picking specific research and constructing a compelling narrative from it as opposed to telling a more nuanced tale.
chasing 4y ago
Yes, content farms will be able to produce low-value content even more cheaply. Any “writer” who leans too hard on ChatGPT will find themselves producing material that feels indistinguishable from all the other low-value crap that floods the internet.
paulcole 4y ago
> You are ignoring the fact that most of the writers are bullshit vendors regurgitating books, quotes, themes and things they read from somewhere else. I don't understand the vitriol HN has for professional writers and anyone who might work in gasp marketing. Replace "writers" with "programmers" and your statement is still true but you don't hear it being shouted from the rooftops on every post about programming on HN.
- coldtea 4y ago
  >I don't understand the vitriol HN has for professional writers and anyone who might work in gasp marketing. Let's say we'd be better off without anyone working in, gasp, marketing. Companies might sell less, but society would be much better of.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Go build it. See how many people discover yourGitHub repository without so much as a coherent explanation of what problem your code solves. (And, yes, that's marketing.) If I had a nickel for every website I opened up and then closed because after 5 minutes I had no idea what the company or product did or why I should care, I'd be rich. Might be something really clever. Dunno. I just know it's 5 minutes of my life I'm not getting back because some techie thought their genius would be obvious to all.
    - coldtea 4y ago
      >Go build it. See how many people discover yourGitHub repository without so much as a coherent explanation of what problem your code solves. (And, yes, that's marketing.) Only in a pedantic sense. We could live with non-commercial marketing, if you want to call it that, without an advertising budget, ads, sponsored articles, and other such BS - like, say, the author promoting their FOSS on their blog. Or crafting a nice looking page with an enticing description. As for commercial companies not being able to sell their products in that case, the world's smallest violin plays a heart-felt tune for them...

Swizec 4y ago

> but in the world of LLMs an individual's depth of knowledge trumps My favorite book genre is roughly “Academic writes popular book after 20 years of researching a topic”. That will be very hard to replace with ChatGPT. Someone like Gladwell though … yeah I can see LLMs being scary for that genre. Not quite yet, but soon.

ebiester 4y ago
Gladwell's strength is that he's an incredible storyteller. It will be a while before an LLM gets to that level.
- Swizec 4y ago
  You are right. The stories are fantastic and he really makes the underlying research shine. I can see LLM + Human working great for that kind of writing. LLM writes the first draft, human makes it sing.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Well, Gladwell constructs great stories out of a very selective reading of research. Not that many writers don't do this to some degree, but Gladwell in his more recent career has been widely criticized for picking specific research and constructing a compelling narrative from it as opposed to telling a more nuanced tale.

chasing 4y ago

Yes, content farms will be able to produce low-value content even more cheaply. Any “writer” who leans too hard on ChatGPT will find themselves producing material that feels indistinguishable from all the other low-value crap that floods the internet.

paulcole 4y ago

> You are ignoring the fact that most of the writers are bullshit vendors regurgitating books, quotes, themes and things they read from somewhere else. I don't understand the vitriol HN has for professional writers and anyone who might work in gasp marketing. Replace "writers" with "programmers" and your statement is still true but you don't hear it being shouted from the rooftops on every post about programming on HN.

coldtea 4y ago
>I don't understand the vitriol HN has for professional writers and anyone who might work in gasp marketing. Let's say we'd be better off without anyone working in, gasp, marketing. Companies might sell less, but society would be much better of.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Go build it. See how many people discover yourGitHub repository without so much as a coherent explanation of what problem your code solves. (And, yes, that's marketing.) If I had a nickel for every website I opened up and then closed because after 5 minutes I had no idea what the company or product did or why I should care, I'd be rich. Might be something really clever. Dunno. I just know it's 5 minutes of my life I'm not getting back because some techie thought their genius would be obvious to all.
  - coldtea 4y ago
    >Go build it. See how many people discover yourGitHub repository without so much as a coherent explanation of what problem your code solves. (And, yes, that's marketing.) Only in a pedantic sense. We could live with non-commercial marketing, if you want to call it that, without an advertising budget, ads, sponsored articles, and other such BS - like, say, the author promoting their FOSS on their blog. Or crafting a nice looking page with an enticing description. As for commercial companies not being able to sell their products in that case, the world's smallest violin plays a heart-felt tune for them...