4 ms·

What a confusing rambly article. I read the entire thing, and I'm still not sure why he bought an encyclopedia. It seems like the stated main reason is so he c

What a confusing rambly article. I read the entire thing, and I'm still not sure why he bought an encyclopedia. It seems like the stated main reason is so he can talk to his kids about how different sources are written and constructed. A noble goal, but it seems like a paper encyclopedia is pretty incidental to that goal. Quite frankly, it seems like the real reason is the author has nostalgia for his encyclopedia growing up, and wants his kids to experience what he experienced as a child.

Neywiny 2y ago
Agreed. I think at one point I either saw that you could get an offline kindle-esque Wikipedia device or I contemplated what it would take to make one and saw it wouldn't be terrible. If I didn't hallucinate that product I'd expect it to be the better answer. The world changes so rapidly (unless all you need to know is stuff from an old game) that I don't ever consider using printed materials as reference anymore.
- jhbadger 2y ago
  Yes, there was at least one physical Wikipedia device (the Wikireader, released in 2009 and discontinued in 2014), but these days a more practical solution is to put an offline Wikipedia app like Kiwix on an old phone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader https://kiwix.org https://kiwix.org
  - int_19h 2y ago
    One of Kiwix subprojects is a Raspberry Pi image creator. Once set up, it acts as a simple server you can connect to over WiFi with any device that has a web browser (and Kiwix serves pretty basic HTML so even very old stuff works fine).
jiehong 2y ago
I think the last paragraphs say it clearly: Our information literacy project must start somewhere, preferably far enough from the meandering blather of generative systems that when we encounter them, we have the tools under our belt to evaluate their results. And that, ultimately, is why I bought an Encyclopedia.
- bawolff 2y ago
  But at the start of the article he claims his kids are getting information from wikipedia and youtube videos. Neither of which are generative AI (well i guess it depends which youtube video). So he bought an encyclopedia to prevent his kids from using generative AI even though they weren't using it in the first place? It makes no sense.
  - hammyhavoc 2y ago
    You don't think Wikipedia isn't being inundated with LLM-generated shite? And you haven't seen the AI-generated slop on YT with fake voices reading bunk info over slideshows?
  - cratermoon 2y ago
    If you read the companion story linked to at the top: https://www.publicbooks.org/the-encyclopedia-project-or-how-to-know-in-the-age-of-ai/ https://www.publicbooks.org/the-encyclopedia-project-or-how-... You'll see that the impetus for his purchase was a tangle with an AI-generated youtube video about kung fu.
rambambram 2y ago
He is a she.

Neywiny 2y ago

Agreed. I think at one point I either saw that you could get an offline kindle-esque Wikipedia device or I contemplated what it would take to make one and saw it wouldn't be terrible. If I didn't hallucinate that product I'd expect it to be the better answer. The world changes so rapidly (unless all you need to know is stuff from an old game) that I don't ever consider using printed materials as reference anymore.

jhbadger 2y ago
Yes, there was at least one physical Wikipedia device (the Wikireader, released in 2009 and discontinued in 2014), but these days a more practical solution is to put an offline Wikipedia app like Kiwix on an old phone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiReader https://kiwix.org https://kiwix.org
- int_19h 2y ago
  One of Kiwix subprojects is a Raspberry Pi image creator. Once set up, it acts as a simple server you can connect to over WiFi with any device that has a web browser (and Kiwix serves pretty basic HTML so even very old stuff works fine).

jiehong 2y ago

I think the last paragraphs say it clearly: Our information literacy project must start somewhere, preferably far enough from the meandering blather of generative systems that when we encounter them, we have the tools under our belt to evaluate their results. And that, ultimately, is why I bought an Encyclopedia.

bawolff 2y ago
But at the start of the article he claims his kids are getting information from wikipedia and youtube videos. Neither of which are generative AI (well i guess it depends which youtube video). So he bought an encyclopedia to prevent his kids from using generative AI even though they weren't using it in the first place? It makes no sense.
- hammyhavoc 2y ago
  You don't think Wikipedia isn't being inundated with LLM-generated shite? And you haven't seen the AI-generated slop on YT with fake voices reading bunk info over slideshows?
- cratermoon 2y ago
  If you read the companion story linked to at the top: https://www.publicbooks.org/the-encyclopedia-project-or-how-to-know-in-the-age-of-ai/ https://www.publicbooks.org/the-encyclopedia-project-or-how-... You'll see that the impetus for his purchase was a tangle with an AI-generated youtube video about kung fu.

rambambram 2y ago

He is a she.