thinkling

32GB Unified RAM max. Is that really the machine I want for running local LLMs?

I had the opposite take on LLMs using Kahnemann's framework.

Maybe I need to reread his book, but I think of System 1 as "fast, reflexive, instinctive" mental activity, and System 2 as "slow, deliberative, rational, verbal" thought.

So exactly inverse to this article, I characterize LLMs as 100% System 2, and would say that what's missing in AI is the more "embodied" System 1 intelligence.

My current thinking is that the experience of consciousness is closely tied to that embodied, emotional side of our nervous system, and is 100% lacking in LLMs. Anthropic people will say "the models have neural correlates of emotion", and that's fine, our cortex also has neural correlates for emotions and for much of what happens in the cerebellum and brain stem. That doesn't mean that that's where the primary function is implemented.

> the people at Whole Foods who have to people find their “prime code” in people’s apps because it’s impossible to find.

This used to be easy and then they moved it somewhere counterintuitive in the app that my brain refuses to remember. I swear.

Now they’ve put a QR code on the checkout console, and scanning that opens the Amazon app to the right spot. Scan a code to scan a code… modern life.

(WHat’s really ridiculous is that I’m paying with my Amazon Prime VISA card—why doesn’t that automatically get me my prime discounts? It’s my default method of payment on the Amazon site, it’s not like they don’t know about it. No, I need to jump through some other hoops to “enroll” or “link” my card or something for that to work. eyeroll )

I hope you have been installing security updates for the OS version you have. At some point, those end, and then you're looking at a different trade-off in not upgrading.

I think they were asking, "If this is a model produced by Meta with an API designed to be compatible with OpenAI models, but it's not actually an OpenAI model, why is Meta hosting it on Azure?"

In 2003, Gates was no longer CEO; I think he was President of the Board and something like "Special Advisor"? None of the people involved reported to him, so he may actually correctly have felt he could not tell them what to do?--so he stuck to venting his frustration.

> What makes it seem crazy is cars entering have right of way.

The thing that’s bananas is that this is a City of Paris rule. In the rest of France, traffic entering a roundabout must yield. Not inside Paris. Better make sure you know this!

And even more crazy, the Periphérique, the controlled-access ring road around Paris which tends to move at 40-50mph, is a city street and so traffic entering that highway-like “street” also has right-of-way.

Time scale matters a lot in how we as humans perceive things like agency. Plants grow too slow for us to see any intent, but when you speed up a time lapse, suddenly it looks like plants reach for sunlight and vines for supports. Now, that may be projection on our part, but it may not be.

A lot depends on where you draw the boundary for consciousness. Michael Pollan (in his new book, _A World Appears_) distinguishes simpler sentience from more advanced consciousness, and the requirements for sentience (be aware of sense data, have preferences, be able to respond to senses appropriately) are met by plants and single celled life (e.g. moving up a nutrient gradient). Recent findings in plant science are particularly mind blowing. Some are in Pollan's book, more are in _The Light Eaters_.

Mmm, no, I don’t think it’s equivalent. I think they know that if you make the work hard, some employees will have trouble keeping up and will do things like peeing in bottles. And they’re OK with that, because they think there are enough people who can keep up that they can push the weaker people out. I think they believe that the peeing in bottle is relatively rare. I’m unsure whether that’s right or not. It’s been reported that it happens, but I have no sense whether it’s common.

Is there auto-updating of plug-ins?

Installing a plug-in and reviewing its code at that point is one thing. But if the plug-in can be updated withut you knowing, then there’s little guarantee of security.

Thanks for the inside insight.

I'm surprised how few comments are written with the prior that Amazon managers aren't stupid or uninformed about how incentives work.

My guess would be that someone created the leaderboard without a lot of consultation with managers, and that some employees feel a competitive urge to try to "win" the leaderboard by burning tokens.

Interesting. I know that some smaller jurisdictions in the US (cities and counties) run non-partisan primaries and elections. Have party-less elections been done at the national level anywhere? Did they not result in de-facto party competitions? Curious to know where and read up.

What tech will be used for this?

I hope it’s better than other sensor tech in cars that think they need to warn you that you’re about to hit something at the front when the car is in reverse, that can't distinguish a bike rack statically attached to the car from the environment, and so on.