6 ms·

The thing that changed my view on LLMs was solo traveling for 6 months after leaving Microsoft. There were a lot of points on the trip where I was in a lot of t

The thing that changed my view on LLMs was solo traveling for 6 months after leaving Microsoft. There were a lot of points on the trip where I was in a lot of trouble (severe food sickness, stolen items, missed flights) where I don't know how I would have solved those problems without chatGPT helping.

miltonlost 11mo ago
Severe food sickness? I know WebMD rightly gets a lot of hate, but this is one thing where it would be good for. Stolen items? Depending on the items and the place, possibly police. Missed flights? Customer service agent at the airport for your airline or call the airline help line.
- mips_avatar 11mo ago
  Well I got so weak I needed to go to the hospital, and that was tough.
buildsjets 11mo ago
This is one of the most depressing things I have ever read on Hacker News. You claim to have become so de-actualized as a human being that you cannot fulfill the most basic items of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (food, health, personal security, shelter, transportation) without the aid of an LLM.
- mips_avatar 11mo ago
  IDK I got really sick in a foreign country, I wasn't sure how to get to the hospital and I was alone in a hotel room. I don't really know how using chatgpt to help me isn't actualizing.
  - blibble 11mo ago
    did you try asking at the reception desk?
    - mips_avatar 11mo ago
      The hotel owner eventually half carried me to the hospital because I got so weak from dehydration, though I'm glad I left my hotel room when I did I had difficulty avoiding fainting.
      - cuu508 11mo ago
        Sounds like it was the hotel owner not chatgpt who saved your ass in the end.
        mips_avatar 11mo ago
        Rafael was the absolute best. He also made sure the hospital saw me right away since I was so weak. But once I was hooked up I used ChatGPT to scan the ivs they had me hooked up to since I had no idea what they were pumping into me since it was all in Spanish.
        pseudalopex 11mo ago
        You said you solved problems with ChatGPT's help. You described a problem Rafael and hospital staff solved for you. And the problem you solved with ChatGPT could have been solved with a dictionary.
        mips_avatar 11mo ago
        I guess this was very American of me, but when I was so sick I wanted to know if my travel insurance would cover the hospital stay. ChatGPT confirmed that it did, and told me to get to a hospital. Ultimately the hotel owner was the person who carried me to the hospital, but i wasn't lucid enough to read through my travel insurance's benefits pdf. I suppose I should have just gone to the hospital with or without insurance, but sometimes when you're very sick you don't think straight.
        pseudalopex 10mo ago
  - ajkjk 11mo ago
    If you are operating under the constraint that talking to strangers is impossible then I could see why ChatGPT feels like a godsend...
  - erentz 11mo ago
    We used to have Google search and Google maps which solved this problem of finding information about symptoms and finding medical centers near you. LLM doesn’t make anything better it just confidently asserts things about medicine that may be wrong and always need to be verified with the real sources anyway.
    - mips_avatar 11mo ago
      Well google search is a little nerfed since it went full ad revenue focused
  - bluefirebrand 11mo ago
    I can't imagine being in this situation and thinking "I will ask ChatGPT" instead of "I will ask the people at the front desk of this hotel I'm staying at"
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
- turtlesdown11 11mo ago
  [flagged]
- ohyoutravel 11mo ago
  I saw a post on Reddit the other day where the user was posting screenshots from ChatGPT about how they were using ChatGPT as a “Human OS” and outsourcing all decisions and information to ChatGPT. It made me queasy.
  - simianwords 11mo ago
    god forbid you outsource easy things to technology - that's how humanity has been progressing since forever. but sure, throw away your calculator and do it by hand if that makes you feel any better.
    - prewett 11mo ago
      Well, if your calculator has a loose wire that sometimes flips a random bit somewhere, you might find that a slide rule that is consistently correct has a certain value.
  - int_19h 11mo ago
    So basically Manna, but for your life?
- canjobear 11mo ago
  Extremely uncharitable reading. Plausibly they were in a foreign country where they didn't speak any of the language and didn't know how anything worked. This kind of situation was never easy for anyone.
  - dreamcompiler 11mo ago
    I have been in situations where either I or someone in my party was sick and needed medical care in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language. In all cases I used my brain to figure out a solution quickly without the aid of CharGPT, and the trip continued on. This falls in the category of life skills or maybe just "adulting." Sure, maybe ChatGPT can be considered a life skill, but you need others compiled into your brain to fall back on when it fails. If ChatGPT is the only skill you have, what do you do if your phone gets stolen?
    - simianwords 11mo ago
      What a strange thing to say.. ChatGPT is not a skill, its just a tool. It helps much faster and better than google searching. Why the fuss about it? Would you say the same to someone using Google? "Sure, maybe Google can be considered a life skill, but you need others compiled into your brain to fall back on when it fails. If Google is the only skill you have, what do you do if your phone gets stolen?"
- mountainriver 11mo ago
  Relax
- simianwords 11mo ago
  Your post is actually one of the most patronising things I have read. The person just used ChatGPT like Google to solve their problems and your reply is about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?
nostrademons 11mo ago
This is what people used to use Google for; I remember so many times between 2000-2020 that Google saved my bacon for exactly those things (travel plans, self-diagnosis, navigating local bureaucracies, etc.) It's a sad commentary on the state of search results and the Internet now that ChatGPT is superior, particularly since pre-knowledge-panel/AI-overview Google was superior in several ways (not hallucinating, for one, and being able to triangulate multiple sources to tell the truth).
johnnienaked 11mo ago
That's pretty sad tbh

miltonlost 11mo ago

Severe food sickness? I know WebMD rightly gets a lot of hate, but this is one thing where it would be good for. Stolen items? Depending on the items and the place, possibly police. Missed flights? Customer service agent at the airport for your airline or call the airline help line.

mips_avatar 11mo ago
Well I got so weak I needed to go to the hospital, and that was tough.

buildsjets 11mo ago

This is one of the most depressing things I have ever read on Hacker News. You claim to have become so de-actualized as a human being that you cannot fulfill the most basic items of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (food, health, personal security, shelter, transportation) without the aid of an LLM.

mips_avatar 11mo ago
IDK I got really sick in a foreign country, I wasn't sure how to get to the hospital and I was alone in a hotel room. I don't really know how using chatgpt to help me isn't actualizing.
- blibble 11mo ago
  did you try asking at the reception desk?
  - mips_avatar 11mo ago
    The hotel owner eventually half carried me to the hospital because I got so weak from dehydration, though I'm glad I left my hotel room when I did I had difficulty avoiding fainting.
    - cuu508 11mo ago
      Sounds like it was the hotel owner not chatgpt who saved your ass in the end.
      - mips_avatar 11mo ago
        Rafael was the absolute best. He also made sure the hospital saw me right away since I was so weak. But once I was hooked up I used ChatGPT to scan the ivs they had me hooked up to since I had no idea what they were pumping into me since it was all in Spanish.
        pseudalopex 11mo ago
        You said you solved problems with ChatGPT's help. You described a problem Rafael and hospital staff solved for you. And the problem you solved with ChatGPT could have been solved with a dictionary.
        mips_avatar 11mo ago
        I guess this was very American of me, but when I was so sick I wanted to know if my travel insurance would cover the hospital stay. ChatGPT confirmed that it did, and told me to get to a hospital. Ultimately the hotel owner was the person who carried me to the hospital, but i wasn't lucid enough to read through my travel insurance's benefits pdf. I suppose I should have just gone to the hospital with or without insurance, but sometimes when you're very sick you don't think straight.
        pseudalopex 10mo ago
- ajkjk 11mo ago
  If you are operating under the constraint that talking to strangers is impossible then I could see why ChatGPT feels like a godsend...
- erentz 11mo ago
  We used to have Google search and Google maps which solved this problem of finding information about symptoms and finding medical centers near you. LLM doesn’t make anything better it just confidently asserts things about medicine that may be wrong and always need to be verified with the real sources anyway.
  - mips_avatar 11mo ago
    Well google search is a little nerfed since it went full ad revenue focused
- bluefirebrand 11mo ago
  I can't imagine being in this situation and thinking "I will ask ChatGPT" instead of "I will ask the people at the front desk of this hotel I'm staying at"
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
turtlesdown11 11mo ago
[flagged]
ohyoutravel 11mo ago
I saw a post on Reddit the other day where the user was posting screenshots from ChatGPT about how they were using ChatGPT as a “Human OS” and outsourcing all decisions and information to ChatGPT. It made me queasy.
- simianwords 11mo ago
  god forbid you outsource easy things to technology - that's how humanity has been progressing since forever. but sure, throw away your calculator and do it by hand if that makes you feel any better.
  - prewett 11mo ago
    Well, if your calculator has a loose wire that sometimes flips a random bit somewhere, you might find that a slide rule that is consistently correct has a certain value.
- int_19h 11mo ago
  So basically Manna, but for your life?
canjobear 11mo ago
Extremely uncharitable reading. Plausibly they were in a foreign country where they didn't speak any of the language and didn't know how anything worked. This kind of situation was never easy for anyone.
- dreamcompiler 11mo ago
  I have been in situations where either I or someone in my party was sick and needed medical care in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language. In all cases I used my brain to figure out a solution quickly without the aid of CharGPT, and the trip continued on. This falls in the category of life skills or maybe just "adulting." Sure, maybe ChatGPT can be considered a life skill, but you need others compiled into your brain to fall back on when it fails. If ChatGPT is the only skill you have, what do you do if your phone gets stolen?
  - simianwords 11mo ago
    What a strange thing to say.. ChatGPT is not a skill, its just a tool. It helps much faster and better than google searching. Why the fuss about it? Would you say the same to someone using Google? "Sure, maybe Google can be considered a life skill, but you need others compiled into your brain to fall back on when it fails. If Google is the only skill you have, what do you do if your phone gets stolen?"
mountainriver 11mo ago
Relax
simianwords 11mo ago
Your post is actually one of the most patronising things I have read. The person just used ChatGPT like Google to solve their problems and your reply is about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?

nostrademons 11mo ago

This is what people used to use Google for; I remember so many times between 2000-2020 that Google saved my bacon for exactly those things (travel plans, self-diagnosis, navigating local bureaucracies, etc.) It's a sad commentary on the state of search results and the Internet now that ChatGPT is superior, particularly since pre-knowledge-panel/AI-overview Google was superior in several ways (not hallucinating, for one, and being able to triangulate multiple sources to tell the truth).

johnnienaked 11mo ago

That's pretty sad tbh