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You read something and understand it only if you have had analogous experiences. A person from the 16th century would not be able to understand what the words "
by _1tem 2y ago
You read something and understand it only if you have had analogous experiences. A person from the 16th century would not be able to understand what the words "Call me on FaceTime" means because they have never had an experience of using a smartphone.
You certainly don't know what it means to die. But you know what "car" is and "crash" is because you have had (and maybe witnessed) analogous physical experiences.
- ALittleLight 2y agoPeople in the 16th century had the notion of scrying mirrors - presumably without analogous experience. I'm sure you could explain FaceTime to a person from then. "This magic glass shows me the view and transports the sound from the magic glass of a friend or family member and vice versa, with their informed consent."
- _1tem 2y agoExactly. You would explain the concept to them using analogous experiences they have had. What experience has an LLM had?
- lostmsu 2y agoThis has nothing to do with experience. What experience can you have when people explain to you behavior of many dimensional hyperbolic space? When you learn SVD matrix decomposition? You don't need experience, you need some basic concepts.
- _1tem 2y agoAbstract mathematical concepts can eventually be traced back to simple integers, which are traced back to an experience of things in the world (a toddler learns to count 1, 2, 3). And it is precisely because higher mathematics is so far abstracted away from physical experience is the reason why many people struggle with it. Besides, many great mathematicians have explained their knowledge as an "experience" even "spiritual experience". Not all experiences are physical. Ramanujan described his experience of mathematics as lights and sounds and patterns, and this is common among geniuses. > you need some basic concepts Agreed. All basic concepts are an experience.
- rowanG077 2y agoI have not witnessed a car crash and I feel I do understand what it is. Similarly a 16th century person doesn't "Call me on FaceTime" because the words are not known. You could very easily explain the concept to them.
- _1tem 2y agoYou would explain the concept to them using analogous experiences they have had. What experience has an LLM had?
- rowanG077 2y agoMaybe you would. That's not a requirement. If humans could only learn from experience and analogues entire fields would be dead. No advanced math for example. There are a ton of things you can learn without experiencing it yourself and without analogues. For example, car crashes are bad to be in. Even though I have not personally experienced one, nor have I experienced some analogue of it.
- _1tem 2y agoNever experienced pain? Never experienced physically slamming into something? Are you like a toddler who doesn’t yet understand basic physics and object permanence? Then you certainly don’t know what a car crash is.