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Humans are not mere LLMs. But it's nice to think we are. May be we can program other humans with carefully constructed prompts alone. May be hypnosis is just a

Humans are not mere LLMs. But it's nice to think we are. May be we can program other humans with carefully constructed prompts alone. May be hypnosis is just a prompt injection attack.

eurekin 4y ago
... or a cable TV
chongli 4y ago
May be we can program other humans with carefully constructed prompts alone Isn’t that what scammers, catfishers, con artists, and marketers do?
- bmelton 4y ago
  I mean, it's what parents TRY to do
  - coldtea 4y ago
    It's also what makes a human. Without what parents "try to do" (teach the kids to human), the little people would just be like ferral animals, without language, human context, sense of society, and so on.
    - _heimdall 4y ago
      That's raises the interesting question of whether everything that makes us human is learned behavior. If it all really is nurture rather than nature we're much more fragile than people may realize and only ever one generation away from going ferral
      - seszett 4y ago
        > only ever one generation away from going ferral That doesn't seem right to me, as we cannot survive childhood without adults. Young humans are ready for life in society long before they are able to survive on their own without support from the society around them. We have been depending on the continuation of some form of society for likely hundreds of thousands of years, not just for staying civilised but simply for survival.
      - Viliam1234 4y ago
        Nurture vs nature is a wrong way to look at things. Without the human nature, the nurture would not work. Try to raise a member of a different species as a human...
- ChatGTP 4y ago
  No
- doctor_eval 4y ago
  Not to mention cult leaders.
beardedetim 4y ago
The pseudo-science of NLP (_neuro-lingustic programming_) or "conversational hypnosis" is based on the believe that you _can_ program people with carefully constructed prompts alone. Not saying I _believe_ NLP to be valid (_hence the pseudo-science callout_) but I did fall down the Milton H Erickson wormhole 10-20yrs ago so can't say I never fell for it myself.
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  The real NLP is getting people to believe in NLP
- dsr_ 4y ago
  ... and that you can do this over the course of a few minutes or hours, without the subject noticing or objecting.
- TuringTest 4y ago
  So, what was previously called 'persuading'.
quickthrower2 4y ago
I do feel like a stage hypnotist when prompt engineering an LLM!
PartiallyTyped 4y ago
> May be we can program other humans with carefully constructed prompts alone. Is that not what reasoning is in a debate? > May be hypnosis is just a prompt injection attack. No need to go into hypnosis. Mere prompts can inject false memories. This has been proven multiple times [1]. [1] The Brain: The Story of You, David Eagleman.

Humans are not mere LLMs. But it's nice to think we are. May be we can program other humans with carefully constructed prompts alone. May be hypnosis is just a prompt injection attack.

eurekin 4y ago

... or a cable TV

chongli 4y ago

May be we can program other humans with carefully constructed prompts alone Isn’t that what scammers, catfishers, con artists, and marketers do?

bmelton 4y ago
I mean, it's what parents TRY to do
- coldtea 4y ago
  It's also what makes a human. Without what parents "try to do" (teach the kids to human), the little people would just be like ferral animals, without language, human context, sense of society, and so on.
  - _heimdall 4y ago
    That's raises the interesting question of whether everything that makes us human is learned behavior. If it all really is nurture rather than nature we're much more fragile than people may realize and only ever one generation away from going ferral
    - seszett 4y ago
      > only ever one generation away from going ferral That doesn't seem right to me, as we cannot survive childhood without adults. Young humans are ready for life in society long before they are able to survive on their own without support from the society around them. We have been depending on the continuation of some form of society for likely hundreds of thousands of years, not just for staying civilised but simply for survival.
    - Viliam1234 4y ago
      Nurture vs nature is a wrong way to look at things. Without the human nature, the nurture would not work. Try to raise a member of a different species as a human...
ChatGTP 4y ago
No
doctor_eval 4y ago
Not to mention cult leaders.

beardedetim 4y ago

The pseudo-science of NLP (_neuro-lingustic programming_) or "conversational hypnosis" is based on the believe that you _can_ program people with carefully constructed prompts alone. Not saying I _believe_ NLP to be valid (_hence the pseudo-science callout_) but I did fall down the Milton H Erickson wormhole 10-20yrs ago so can't say I never fell for it myself.

quickthrower2 4y ago
The real NLP is getting people to believe in NLP
dsr_ 4y ago
... and that you can do this over the course of a few minutes or hours, without the subject noticing or objecting.
TuringTest 4y ago
So, what was previously called 'persuading'.

quickthrower2 4y ago

I do feel like a stage hypnotist when prompt engineering an LLM!

PartiallyTyped 4y ago

> May be we can program other humans with carefully constructed prompts alone. Is that not what reasoning is in a debate? > May be hypnosis is just a prompt injection attack. No need to go into hypnosis. Mere prompts can inject false memories. This has been proven multiple times [1]. [1] The Brain: The Story of You, David Eagleman.