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John Grant

@jlg

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John Grant pfp
John Grant
@jlg
Reading Guy Standing's The Politics of Time. Just as LLMs can simultaneously produce "coherent results" and act as "bullshit generators" (using Booch's framing), the UK's furlough scheme amplified both protection and inequality through its interaction with technology. Digital technology enabled knowledge workers who could work remotely to benefit disproportionately, while essential workers continued at personal risk. Asymmetric amplification might help explain how tools like LLMs or policies like furlough schemes interact with existing social dynamics in that they don't just serve dual purposes, they systematically amplify advantages for some while constraining or disadvantaging others >"The UK's furlough scheme… was possibly the most regressive social policy in modern history. It paid 80 per cent of the wage of employees up to £2,500 a month. This meant that somebody earning £3,000 beforehand received £2,400 for doing nothing, whereas somebody who had been earning £800 received £640." 1/n
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John Grant
@jlg
"… LLMs are pretty freaking cool. However, they are, by the very nature of their architecture, unreliable narrators, that's what I say politely. If I'm going to be impolite, I will say they allow us to build at global scale bullshit generators, because they are clearly stochastic parrots. They do not reason they do not understand but they do produce some very coherent results because they allow us to navigate a latent space that has been made very complex through training it through the corpus of the internet." - Grady Booch This has always seemed rather obvious to me, but I don't find it easy to articulate. An axe can be both a survival tool and a lethal weapon. So, it can be said to be dual-purpose. But I find this analogy not as effective when applied to generative AI. In human systems, what framework or concept best explains this nature of things that can produce both beneficial and harmful effects? Are they examples of emergent properties, or is there a better way to frame it?
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John Grant
@jlg
Pareidolia describes pattern-seeking behaviour in individuals. Is there a term for when organizations demonstrate collective pattern-seeking behaviours similar to pareidolia? I'm not sure it's the same as institutional confirmation bias – that would be selectively interpreting information to support existing beliefs. Pareidolia is spontaneous pattern recognition. Perhaps there's a gap in organizational theory here for something like "institutional pareidolia"?
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John Grant
@jlg
How would you go about protocolizing this? "Academics are too scared to do ‘career ending’ or controversial research. Let’s encourage people not to be boring & support them. The future of humanity will depend on this to accelerate innovation. We must to be less boring even if it means being wrong! Just be less wrong…" https://x.com/leecronin/status/1863368249083154452
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John Grant
@jlg
VibeCheck is a framework for comparing LLMs. It defines a set of "vibes" to measure qualitative differences and provide an alternative perspective from other evaluation metrics that tend to focus on correctness. Aiming to quantify subjective characteristics like humour or formality is clearly reductionist. But vibes are subjective and context-specific. But does reducing vibes to measures, without considering the context, actually help or hinder making meaningful comparisons between LLMs? From a reductivism perspective, VibeCheck also assumes human-AI interactions can be explained from a set of vibes. I think this misses the potential for emergent behaviours and co-evolution of practice. So, is the framework too rigid to capture how human-AI interactions will evolve and adapt? https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.12851
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John Grant
@jlg
Strange protocols cometh
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John Grant pfp
John Grant
@jlg
Strange protocols cometh https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.00806
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John Grant
@jlg
>In sum, students are more adept at learning at faster speeds than conventional wisdom would suggest, even in the presence of distractions, demonstrating preserved comprehension at double the natural speed of to-be-learned material, especially when visual information is added to audio content. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-024-09917-7
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John Grant
@jlg
OpenAI is considering developing its own web browser. Pattern: Runtime Evolution OpenAI could introduce a runtime environment optimized for AI development and deployment within their browser. Weak Signals: JavaScript -> PyScript Python is widely adopted in machine learning, OpenAI's browser initiative could mean that PyScript becomes the lingua franca for web AI development. Other frameworks could emerge including: - AIML: An HTML-like markup language for developing conversational UX/UI. - WebLLM: A standard for running lightweight models in the browser. - AIWorkers: Similar to WebWorkers but for AI operations. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-considers-taking-google-with-browser-information-reports-2024-11-21/
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John Grant
@jlg
Problematize the following: "The love of complexity without reductionism makes art; the love of complexity with reductionism makes science."
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John Grant pfp
John Grant
@jlg
Transform ("a polyglot web converter") is a handy utility. Given the effectiveness of LLMs in language translation, I anticipate it won't be long before we see polyglot protocol translation tools emerge. https://transform.tools/
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John Grant
@jlg
Finished reading 'The Corporation in the 21st Century'. Looking forward to part 2. The 'mediating hierarchy' is one of the interesting topics discussed. Anyone recommend any further reading on 'mediating hierarchies' or related? https://profilebooks.com/work/the-corporation-in-the-twenty-first-century/
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John Grant
@jlg
Meta builds AI search engine to cut Google, Bing reliance Pattern: Vertical integration Weak Signal: Information commons In contrast to Meta's vertical integration, open-source, open data, and collaborative curation practices may emerge to counter vertically integrated ecosystems. Modular processing pathways would enable individuals to blend diverse perspectives and data sources, creating richer, more balanced information environments. In this way, an information commons would act as a counterbalance to hyper-vertically integrated induced informational malnutrition https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/meta-develops-own-ai-search-engine-cut-reliance-google-bing-information-reports-2024-10-28/
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John Grant
@jlg
Protocol-based event planning https://forum.summerofprotocols.com/t/protocol-based-event-planning/1672
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John Grant
@jlg
Social Orientation vs Epistemic Authority
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John Grant
@jlg
Unemployed to be given weight-loss jab to help them back into work https://uk.news.yahoo.com/unemployed-given-weight-loss-jab-214917205.html
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John Grant
@jlg
Murmurations Protocol for sharing data across platforms and networks https://forum.summerofprotocols.com/t/murmurations-protocol-for-sharing-data-across-platforms-and-networks/1646
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John Grant pfp
John Grant
@jlg
The proliferation of design thinking techniques and the emergence of generative AI are creating a potential "Malthusian trap" for design consultants and architects. As AI augments the design capabilities of a broader range of professionals, the demand for dedicated design specialists may shift, leading to an oversupply of traditional designers relative to available job openings. But equally, the profession will evolve as new specialized design roles emerge. For example, roles focusing on addressing complex, human-centric challenges. https://www.designswarm.com/blog/2024/09/the-end-of-the-useful-idiot/
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John Grant
@jlg
My reading, generative AI and tools like ChatGPT don't simply reflect existing structures but are active assemblages that create new connections and possibilities. As assemblages, they "deterritorialize" established norms of language, creativity, and practices, thereby influencing and reforming knowledge and power structures https://criticallegalthinking.com/2024/09/16/the-inhuman-in-the-human/
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John Grant
@jlg
'Founder mode' is a rediscovery of cybernetic principles https://backofmind.substack.com/p/the-general-theory-of-founders-managers
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