I believe Steve said that his interactions with ChatGPT have sometimes led him to decide NOT to pursue a project. I find this a valuable feature. Notionally, it enables me to chop off whole parts of a search tree and not invest in dead ends. These systems enable people to engage in motivated learning, which is a better and faster way to learn.
Earlier today I asked Claude to give me an input deck to QChem to facilitate in silico experiments in plasma-assisted nitrogen fixation, and to plan a budget and acquisition plan for a lab to validate those experiments. This gave me a clear idea of how much money would be needed to start testing out new ideas and to quickly rule out ideas that aren’t new. Claude also summarized the other approaches to the problem and their primary technical obstacles. It would have taken a week without Claude -- I could have spent a week slogging through review papers and been no better for it. Maybe it isn’t the students that have to change here. Maybe what is being taught is just unnecessary. From: Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> on behalf of Frank Wimberly <wimber...@gmail.com> Date: Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 2:58 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] "I hope I'm wrong. But that text reads like it was generated by an LLM" Compare the result with amazon.com/author/frankwimberly <http://amazon.com/author/frankwimberly> It took me two weeks to write and contains about 100 pages. Frank --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Sun, Jan 26, 2025, 3:40 PM Eric Charles <eric.phillip.char...@gmail.com <mailto:eric.phillip.char...@gmail.com>> wrote: Frank, And think of how much easier it all would have been with AI assist! Nick, Can you ask George to give you the first 20 pages of a memoir of a boy growing up in New Mexico in <insert appropriate year range>, including the first few years and every summer until the boy went to university? Be sure to mention that the boy moved on from his rural beginnings to a much more worldly and high-tech career. Tell it you would like the tone to be "comfortingly familiar" for those who might have had similar experiences. Just for kicks, please also name the boy "Frank" :- ) Best, Eric On Sat, Jan 25, 2025 at 9:49 PM Frank Wimberly <wimber...@gmail.com <mailto:wimber...@gmail.com>> wrote: I wrote a memoir about my life in New Mexico including the first few years and every summer until I went to university. People who read it who know me say they can hear my voice when they read it. LLMs were not available when I wrote it. Frank --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, <https://www.google.com/maps/search/140+Calle+Ojo+Feliz,++Santa+Fe,+NM+87505?entry=gmail&source=g> Santa Fe, NM 87505 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/140+Calle+Ojo+Feliz,++Santa+Fe,+NM+87505?entry=gmail&source=g> 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Sat, Jan 25, 2025, 7:24 PM Pieter Steenekamp <piet...@randcontrols.co.za <mailto:piet...@randcontrols.co.za>> wrote: DaveW, Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate what you said. For me, the key thing is to keep our human qualities. I like using AI to help make us better, like when it helps with writing. You mentioned that AI can't make writing more eloquent. I agree with this for people who are already good writers. I've read some autobiographies where the writing is so beautiful, it's like AI couldn't match that. But there are others who might need help. AI could make writing easier and better for those who have good ideas but struggle with words. I just want to clarify one point from your message about "voice." When AI helps with writing, it's important that the words still sound like me, not like a machine. I saw your point about my writing sounding like ChatGPT instead of me, which wasn't my goal. I aim for AI to enhance my voice, not replace it. Improving oneself and one's writing is a great goal. We've all had moments where we wish we could express something as well as someone else. If AI can help make my writing sound better or clearer, I think that's good to use. But I agree with you, AI might not make writing more 'eloquent,' just more precise or detailed. So, I would use AI tools carefully, making sure they enhance my own style, not define it. Pieter Note: I use AI to assist my writing. On Sat, 25 Jan 2025 at 17:58, Prof David West <profw...@fastmail.fm <mailto:profw...@fastmail.fm>> wrote: Pieter, I applaud your use of AI to improve your writing. It is my belief that the "proper" use of AI, along with computers and computing tools in general, is to augment human abilities ala Vannevar Bush's "how we may think," Douglas Englebart's institute, Alan Kay's dynabook, (the fictional Young Ladies Primer of Stephenson's Diamond Age), and Jobs' "bicycle for the mind." This is in direct contrast, it seems, to the sentiments of most on this list who think that AI should, and inevitably will, replace "inferior" human intelligence. I am curious if you see any question of "voice" in the AI improved text? For example, I took glen's question as nothing more than an observation that the "voice" of your post seemed to that of ChatGPT instead of Pieter—definitely not "augmented-Pieter," as I believe you intended it to be. All of us respect Pieter and value his words. If, however, we are confused by "voice." it raises issues of how much consideration the writing should receive and how we should respond. Improving oneself, and one's writing, is a great goal. And we all have experienced examples of "I wish I had said that," or "I wish I had expressed that idea as eloquently as she did." If AI tools provide wordings that you admire, or feel express your ideas more eloquently, you should adopt them. Personally, I do not believe that AI can ever provide more 'eloquent' writing, only more precise or more complete writing. So I, again, strictly personally, would eschew using such tools as currently constructed. I would however, if I had the chance, use Richard Gabriel's tool, Inkwell, which, BTW, he emphatically states is not an AI, to enhance my writing. But Richard is primarily a poet and writer, despite his education and career in AI and computing, and he created Inkwell expressly to be a writer's assistant. I have tremendous respect for Richard's writing and I know he uses Inkwell to enhance his intrinsic abilities. davew On Fri, Jan 24, 2025, at 10:48 PM, Pieter Steenekamp wrote: I was surprised by the comment "I hope I'm wrong. But that text reads like it was generated by an LLM" At first, I just thought, 'so what?' But it got me thinking about how AI changes how we communicate, which is really important to me. Here's my main point: I think it's okay to use others, whether they're people or AI, to help me communicate better, as long as the ideas are mine and I'm not copying someone else's work. If using AI to polish my words bothers someone, we can talk about it. Here's some background on why I think this way: a) Learning to communicate is one of the best things you can take away from school or university. For example if a student is supposed to use her own words in an assignment, then using AI or asking someone else to rewrite is wrong. b) In the workplace, we've always had people like personal assistants or speech writers. I see using AI in the same way, just a modern tool to help. c) Writing assistance used to be expensive because you needed people. Now, AI can do the job for free, and that doesn't go against what I believe is right. d) Your writing should still sound like you. So, I write something first, then ask AI to make it better but keep it simple and in my style, like, 'Please make this sound better but keep it easy to understand.' I now realise I violated this previously and will adapt. e) Maybe it's good, depending on the situation, to mention when you've used AI in your writing. f) Here's a funny story: I used AI to help write a message for an AI workshop, and someone complimented the writing so much they suggested I should be a writer instead! My bottom line: I plan to add a note at the end of each message in this group saying I used AI to help with my writing. If my using AI is a problem for anyone here, feel free to ask me to leave the group or simply remove me from the group. Note: I use AI to assist my writing. .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. 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