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I remember the fascination of reading through physical encyclopedias when I was a kid. Having the collective knowledge of the world in my pocket and a personal

I remember the fascination of reading through physical encyclopedias when I was a kid. Having the collective knowledge of the world in my pocket and a personal tutor for any topic still sounds surreal.

harperlee 2y ago
Had a similar feeeling with a Grolier 95 CD (one of the first to enter my home at the time); it seemed infinite.
- konfusinomicon 2y ago
  as infinite as the mindmaze included in encarta
aleph_minus_one 2y ago
> Having the collective knowledge of the world in my pocket and a personal tutor for any topic still sounds surreal. Basically for every topic about which I ask this "personal tutor" (AI models), it hallucinates up stuff. My work colleagues tell me that I should ask it about more "normal" topics, and ask for less paper references. Seriously: for more "normal" topics or for topics where quite some false answers are acceptable, I don't need a personal tutor.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
flir 2y ago
IMO you can only really trust it on subjects with tight "REPL loops" (for want of a better term). Subjects where you can test its output against reality immediately. If you're discussing, say, philosophy with it, it has the potential to lead you deep into the weeds.
gmuslera 2y ago
It is different than a passive encyclopedia. For good and for bad, it goes right to the core to what you want to know. You can jump to the conclusion of a paper instead of going all through it, or get just what you need for the problem or question you want to solve. Some of the inefficiencies of the old model had their side benefits. But having a tutor or teacher to actually interact with have also important benefits. It is not a lesson for a class of who knows how much students, but for you and you in particular. You may be missing some other student questions, but to have freedom to ask, without social pressure, without worrying about time, or even for old topics that may or not be related to the current one, may be a big improvement. The next question we should ask ourselves is what would be now the role of libraries, teachers and teaching institutions in this landscape. What are the cracks in this new teaching model that they can adapt to to fulfill?

harperlee 2y ago

Had a similar feeeling with a Grolier 95 CD (one of the first to enter my home at the time); it seemed infinite.

konfusinomicon 2y ago
as infinite as the mindmaze included in encarta

aleph_minus_one 2y ago

> Having the collective knowledge of the world in my pocket and a personal tutor for any topic still sounds surreal. Basically for every topic about which I ask this "personal tutor" (AI models), it hallucinates up stuff. My work colleagues tell me that I should ask it about more "normal" topics, and ask for less paper references. Seriously: for more "normal" topics or for topics where quite some false answers are acceptable, I don't need a personal tutor.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

flir 2y ago

IMO you can only really trust it on subjects with tight "REPL loops" (for want of a better term). Subjects where you can test its output against reality immediately. If you're discussing, say, philosophy with it, it has the potential to lead you deep into the weeds.

gmuslera 2y ago

It is different than a passive encyclopedia. For good and for bad, it goes right to the core to what you want to know. You can jump to the conclusion of a paper instead of going all through it, or get just what you need for the problem or question you want to solve. Some of the inefficiencies of the old model had their side benefits. But having a tutor or teacher to actually interact with have also important benefits. It is not a lesson for a class of who knows how much students, but for you and you in particular. You may be missing some other student questions, but to have freedom to ask, without social pressure, without worrying about time, or even for old topics that may or not be related to the current one, may be a big improvement. The next question we should ask ourselves is what would be now the role of libraries, teachers and teaching institutions in this landscape. What are the cracks in this new teaching model that they can adapt to to fulfill?