Weekly updates
Microblog
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Non-paywalled link: https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcontent%2Fc1f6d948-3dde-405f-924c-09cc0dcf8c84
βThere was an exchange on Twitter a while back where someone said, βWhat is artificial intelligence?β And someone else said, βA poor choice of words in 1954β,β he says. βAnd, you know, theyβre right. I think that if we had chosen a different phrase for it, back in the β50s, we might have avoided a lot of the confusion that weβre having now.β
So if he had to invent a term, what would it be? His answer is instant: applied statistics.
βItβs genuinely amazing thatβ.β.β.βthese sorts of things can be extracted from a statistical analysis of a large body of text,β he says. But, in his view, that doesnβt make the tools intelligent. Applied statistics is a far more precise descriptor, βbut no one wants to use that term, because itβs not as sexyβ.
Chiangβs view is that large language models (or LLMs), the technology underlying chatbots such as ChatGPT and Googleβs Bard, are useful mostly for producing filler text that no one necessarily wants to read or write, tasks that anthropologist David Graeber called βbullshit jobsβ. AI-generated text is not delightful, but it could perhaps be useful in those certain areas, he concedes.
βBut the fact that LLMs are able to do some of that β thatβs not exactly a resounding endorsement of their abilities,β he says. βThatβs more a statement about how much bullshit we are required to generate and deal with in our daily lives.β
Chiang believes that language without the intention, emotion and purpose that humans bring to it becomes meaningless. βLanguage is a way of facilitating interactions with other beings. That is entirely different than the sort of next-token prediction, which is what we have [with AI tools] now.β
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Bookmarked Lagniappe – Wikipedia.
TIL about Lagniappe:
a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase
Kind of like a baker’s dozen.
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You know what would be a killer email marketing feature? The βliveβ email gets sent to an approver first, who then clicks a βthis looks goodβ link to let the others go out.
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Probably not writing a weekly update for the next couple weeks.
Likes
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Because of this article I went ahead and ordered some Intelligentsia Black Cat instant espresso to hopefully make some quick iced lattes this summer. Vanilla for Amanda, iced mint mojito from Philz for me.
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Jean-Louis GassΓ©e, who used to run Apple France,Β describes this situationΒ as the choice of the two tokens. When you deal with people who have trouble, you can either choose to taken the token that says βitβs no big dealβ or the token that says βitβs the end of the worldβ. Whichever token you pick, theyβll take the other.
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Likes Book notes by .
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Overall, the West is kind of interesting to me, and I think it shows up in this record β the idea that you might find some peace in these wide open spaces, but you usually end up bringing your own problems with you.
Craig Finn
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Likes A very long (and enjoyable) winter by .
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Cool USDA Forest Service ax manual. h/t Cool Tools
About Me



I build boats with my friend Jon at the Hudson Boat Company. I’ve built three kayaks and two Adirondack guide boats.
I do a lot of other woodworking besides boat building, too. My next projects: Making wooden toys for my son, turning bowls on the lathe, and making stick chairs.














I’m exploring and creating code-based art. It is a recent interest and I’m still trying to find my style.
I’ve been into photography since 2006. You can see some of my work in the Photography category, on Flickr, and in the WordPress.org Photo Directory.






IndieWeb Stuff
β An IndieWeb Webring πΈπ βMy representative h-card that I still need to style:
Iβm on the WordPress.com Special Projects Team at Automattic. When Iβm not online, I prefer to be hiking, reading, or woodworking.
cagrimmett.com chuck@grimmett.co