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> An AI with any sort of generalizable reasoning ability would just need basic sources That is a completely unsupportable assertion.

NateEag 2y ago
I mean... Humans do this. Not perfectly, no, but we do. As the only general intelligences we know of so far, I'd say it's support for the assertion that an AI with general reasoning abilities wouldn't need SO or other examples to figure out how to do specific tasks.
rabbits77 2y ago
No, it's the very definition of being able to generalize.
Maxatar 2y ago
Exactly, imagine thinking you can learn how to program Java or C just from being handed the language specification, or even learn how to play chess just by being told the rules of the game. Humans don't learn anything of substance just from being told the strict rules, we also learn from a wealth of examples expressed through a variety of means some of which is formal, some poetic, some even comedic. Heck, we wouldn't even need Stack Overflow to begin with if we could learn things just from basic sources.
- falcolas 2y ago
  > imagine thinking you can learn how to program Java or C just from being handed the language specification Throw in the standard library documentation, and that's exactly how many of us learned how to program before projects like stackoverflow or even the web existed for the public. We took those rules, explored the limits of them using the compiler, and learned. Stackoverflow is, IMO, a shortcut through portions of the exploration and learning phase. Not a bad thing, but importantly it's not required either.
  - Maxatar 2y ago
    Yeah I was programming from way before Stackoverflow existed and I simply call BS. No one learned Java or C by reading either of the following documents: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se10/html/index.html https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se10/html/index.htm... https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf It's cool to romanticize the past though.

NateEag 2y ago

I mean... Humans do this. Not perfectly, no, but we do. As the only general intelligences we know of so far, I'd say it's support for the assertion that an AI with general reasoning abilities wouldn't need SO or other examples to figure out how to do specific tasks.

rabbits77 2y ago

No, it's the very definition of being able to generalize.

Maxatar 2y ago

Exactly, imagine thinking you can learn how to program Java or C just from being handed the language specification, or even learn how to play chess just by being told the rules of the game. Humans don't learn anything of substance just from being told the strict rules, we also learn from a wealth of examples expressed through a variety of means some of which is formal, some poetic, some even comedic. Heck, we wouldn't even need Stack Overflow to begin with if we could learn things just from basic sources.

falcolas 2y ago
> imagine thinking you can learn how to program Java or C just from being handed the language specification Throw in the standard library documentation, and that's exactly how many of us learned how to program before projects like stackoverflow or even the web existed for the public. We took those rules, explored the limits of them using the compiler, and learned. Stackoverflow is, IMO, a shortcut through portions of the exploration and learning phase. Not a bad thing, but importantly it's not required either.
- Maxatar 2y ago
  Yeah I was programming from way before Stackoverflow existed and I simply call BS. No one learned Java or C by reading either of the following documents: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se10/html/index.html https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se10/html/index.htm... https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf It's cool to romanticize the past though.