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> unless someone--a human--can verify and understand it, it doesn't count. One counter-point: Humans have not figured out how general anesthesia works, but we
by tom_alexander 13d ago
> unless someone--a human--can verify and understand it, it doesn't count.
One counter-point: Humans have not figured out how general anesthesia works, but we use it every day to great effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_general_anaesthetic_action https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_general_anaestheti...
- uejfiweun 13d agoSeems a bit nitpicky, we certainly understand how to use it with great effect, we just don't understand the biochemical mechanism.
- pkulak 13d agoOnly because we understand everything _except_ how it works.
- mrheosuper 13d agohow can we understand absolute everything and still don't know how it work ?
- ScoobleDoodle 13d agoTrial and error :)
- mrheosuper 13d agoI wouldn't say that is "understanding". We must fully be able to explain to say that we understand it.
- SirSavary 13d agoThere are two types of understanding: knowing how a candle works and knowing how a candle works.
- Kinrany 13d agoI find it hard to distinguish between knowing how something works, and being able to predict its behavior (including ways to create and destroy it) with probability approaching 1
- mettamage 13d agoThe part that does count is that we can verify that we does what we want it to do. We just don't know how. Same with the black box part of AI. What the weights represent? Arcane dark magic if you ask me. What do they do? Well with LLMs we're all experiencing it.
- amelius 13d ago> The part that does count is that we can verify that we does what we want it to do. We just don't know how. How do we know the person getting anesthesia doesn't die and a new soul/consciousness replaces them? (We can ask the same question about going to sleep, er even walking through a door, but it's still something to think about).
- no_input 13d agoThis was my existential horror for most of my life as I almost never remembered dreaming or going to sleep - until I got a CPAP. Once I started using it, there was continuity to my life, I vividly dream and remember those dreams now. I never scored too badly on the apnea tests but just enough to qualify for one so I said what the hell and got it. Even though I don't use it regularly, something about my sleep has changed for the better.
- CrimsonRain 13d agoyou can verify it does what you want it to? How? Everything is a probability and so is your verification.
- zeta0134 13d agoYou're correct that verification *reduces* risk. It does not eliminate risk. Humans are imperfect. That does not mean that we should stop seeking understanding on principle though, because the journey towards that understanding improves outcomes. Recall also that LLMs are not actually entities. In their current form, there is no sentience, there is no agency. They are tools. Therefore, their output must benefit the user that requested it. Right now, that's humans (and, ideally, the planet at large; we don't exist in a vacuum) and so it makes sense that humans should verify that output and try to ensure that it aligns with their goals. That's not to say that the output of an LLM is useless, far from it. But we should still *try* to understand its output. It gives us at least some chance to notice flaws, and an even greater chance to appreciate the implications and tradeoffs of the solution it picked.