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I've been calling LLMs "electric bicycles for the mind", inspired by that Jobs quote. - some bicycle purists consider electric bicycles to be "cheating" - you
by simonw 10mo ago
I've been calling LLMs "electric bicycles for the mind", inspired by that Jobs quote.
- some bicycle purists consider electric bicycles to be "cheating"
- you get less exercise from an electric bicycle
- they can get you places really effectively!
- if you don't know how to ride a bicycle an electric bicycle is going to quickly lead you to an accident
- matthewkayin 10mo agoI like this analogy. I'll add that, while electric bicycles are great for your daily commute, they're not suited for the extremes of biking (at least not yet). - You're not going to take an electric bike mountain biking - You're not going to use an electric bike to do BMX - You're not going to use an electric bike to go bikepacking across the country
- throw310822 10mo agoI think you're kind of missing the point discussing which vehicle compares better to LLMs. The point is not the vehicle: it's the birth of the engine. Before engines, humans didn't have the means to produce those amounts of power- at all. No matter how many people, horses or oxen they had at their disposal.
- cootsnuck 10mo agoI don't think they're missing the point. I think there's still fundamental disagreements about the functional utility of LLMs.
- chrisweekly 10mo agoActually, electric mountain bikes are popular (where they're allowed), mostly because they make ascents so easy.
- masterj 10mo agoPeople have definitely used ebikes for bikepacking as well. Not sure about BMX.
- rubenflamshep 10mo agoThey’re great when the trails aren’t too technical. No so much when they are (as I’ve learned from personal experience )
- panopticon 10mo agoI'm curious what your personal experience is. My eMTBs are just as capable as my manual bikes (similar geometry, suspension, etc). In fact, they make smashing tech trails easier because there's more weight near the bottom bracket which adds a lot of stability. The ride feel is totally different though. I tend to gap more sections on my manual bike whereas I end up plowing through stuff on the hefty eeb.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- GuinansEyebrows 10mo ago> You're not going to use an electric bike to do BMX while there are companies that have made electric BMX bikes, i'd argue that if you're doing actual "BMX" on a motorized bike, it's just "MX" at that point :)
- robrain 10mo agoWhistlerite here. My Strava stats for last year suggest half and half eMTB and road riding. Tiny bit of fully self-powered MTB work. As a 56-year old, eBikes are what make mountain biking possible and fun for me.
- DANmode 10mo agoE-bikes keep people out riding for more hours. Cooldown capability, and no fear of outriding your energy.
- fsckboy 10mo ago>- You're not going to take an electric bike mountain biking this sounds like a direct quote from Femke Van Den Driessche, who actually took an electric bike mountain biking: big mistake. Did it not perform well? no, actually it performed really well, the problem was, it got her banned from bike racing. Some of the evidence was her passing everybody else on the uphills; the other evidence was a motorized bike in her pit area.
- arrozconcosas 10mo agoNot sure how this fits in the analogy, but as a cyclist I would add some people get more exercise by having an electric bicycle. It makes exercise available to more people.
- simonw 10mo agoI think that fits it really well.
- qwertytyyuu 10mo agoMotorcycle might be more apt
- hamdingers 10mo ago- they still fall over if nobody's holding the bars
- koolba 10mo agoSlamming the brakes and going teeth first into the handlebars.
- koolba 10mo agoYou probably can’t repair it yourself either.
- ueeheh 10mo agoNot convinced with any of three analogies tbh they don’t quite capture what is going on like Steve jobs’ did. And frankly all of this is really missing the point - instead of wasting time on analogies we should look at where this stuff works and then reason from there - a general way to make sense of it that is closer to reality.
- aaronharnly 10mo agoTo keep torturing the metaphor, LLMs might be more like those electric unicycles (Onewheel, Inmotion, etc) – quite speedy, can get you places, less exercise, and also sometimes suddenly choke and send you flying facefirst into gravel. And some people see you whizzing by and think "oh cool", and others see you whizzing by and think "what a tool."
- whattheheckheck 10mo agoMore like the Segway... really cool at first then not really then totally overpriced and failed to revolutionize the industry. And it killed the founder
- cogman10 10mo agoIs there a modern segway? I mean, I find ebikes are probably a better option in general, but it seems like all the pieces to recreate the segway for a much lower price are there already. Looks like the closest thing is the self balancing stuff that segway makes. Otherwise it's just the scooters.
- boringg 10mo agoe-skateboards?
- MattGrommes 10mo agoJust a small correction, the founder of Segway is Dean Kamen who is still alive. It was the then-owner of the company who died.
- bryanrasmussen 10mo agothanks saved me googling if Kamen was still alive!
- esafak 10mo agoIt would have been cooler if this comment was by the founder :)
- pglevy 10mo agoMoped for the mind has a nice ring to it
- embedding-shape 10mo agoI feel like both moped and electric bike misses the mark of the initial analogy, so does tractor too. Because they're not able to get good results without someone putting in the work ("energy") at some higher part of the process. It's not "at the push of a button/twist of the wrist" like with electric bikes or mopeds, but being able to know where/how to push actually gets you reliable results. Like a bicycle.
- furyofantares 10mo agoYeah, but plenty of people are just getting bad results and keeping them, because they'd prefer bad results for free over good results with effort.
- soperj 10mo agoMost people I see on their electric bikes aren't even pedaling. They're electric motorcycles, and they're a plague to everyone using pedestrian trails. Some of them are going nearly highway speeds, it's ridiculous.
- vict7 10mo agoThere are 3 classes of e-bikes in the US, with class 3 topping out at 28mph—anything above that is illegal or in some weird legal grey area. You are thinking of e-motos which are an entirely different beast. e-motos are a real problem; please don’t lump legitimate e-bikes in with those. It’s simply incorrect.
- soperj 10mo agoas someone who bikes every day, they're both a problem.
- vict7 10mo agoNope. You apparently are incapable of distinguishing the massive gulf between an e-bike that enables the elderly, differently-abled, commuters, and less fit people to enjoy cycling at reasonable speeds. And an e-moto which is an illegally souped up vehicle that can reach closer to highway speeds. The latter is indeed a danger and should not be used in bike lanes or multi use paths… or really at all. E-biking is only gaining popularity, so I’d suggest you educate yourself and adjust your ignorant perspective rather than digging in :)
- Terretta 10mo ago> they can get you places really effectively! But those who require them to get anywhere won't get very far without power.
- whywhywhywhywy 10mo ago[dead]
- EGreg 10mo agookay -- how about motorcycles for the mind then? :) most people don't know how to harness their full potential
- pvtmert 10mo agoand other sometimes you forgot to charge it, becoming even heavier thing to continue your journey with. or, there is a high grade slope where excess weight is more than the motor capacity
- xnx 10mo ago> I've been calling LLMs "electric bicycles for the mind", Ridden by a pelican perchance?