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Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking

493 points · 328 comments · leumon

  1. Zsfe510asG · · focus · HN ↗
    Gemini is underrated in that it produces the only prose that is somewhat bearable to read.
    1. WarmWash · · focus · HN ↗
      For heavyweight work I have been using Astra, but for rabbit holes and brain storming Gemini is far more enjoyable to interact with.

      I'm worried in their push to catch up on the SOTA front, it's going to lose that natural sounding touch it currently has.

      1. drivebyhooting · · focus · HN ↗
        Mostly because it answers quickly and is more agreeable (too agreeable at times).

        Meanwhile Claude and Astra like to couch all their agreements with caveats and provisos.

        1. mapontosevenths · · focus · HN ↗
          > Meanwhile Claude and Astra like to couch all their agreements with caveats and provisos.

          Sometimes that's what being smart sounds like.

          1. Someone1234 · · focus · HN ↗
            This is commonly why, on Reddit in particular, you can get eaten alive.

            Someone confident but incorrect, can often sound more convincing than someone with actual expertise. The expert must add caveats/hedge, because those are the facts on the ground, whereas the person reciting google can be entirely confident.

            Of course the people judging aren't experts, so they side with confidence and simplicity. Heck, just writing shorter replies on Reddit is rewarded. Nobody reads the articles, let alone a paragraph-long reply.

            That all being said though, there are limits. Sometimes LLMs on high-thinking go off on full tangents based on little, and don't have the self-awareness to bring it back.

            1. JW_00000 · · focus · HN ↗
              I consider, on the contrary, caveating and hedging annoying 'typical redditor'/internet behaviors: they care more about being "technically correct" than conveying the message. On the internet, if you make even the tiniest mistake or simplification, someone will criticize you, so you're trained to always hedge. In normal discussions with friends you can just make general statements and people get what you mean.
              1. Someone1234 · · focus · HN ↗
                You aren't arguing a "contrary" to what I actually wrote above. You're arguing with a strawman Redditor, and a point adjacent to what I was posting about - experts responding to topics within their actual realm of expertise.

                So I won't be addressing this, for those reasons and others.

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