Thread

1. aogaili · 1790086544 · focus · HN ↗

   If the problem was solved by anyone before or if a similar problem has been solved, then LLMs seem to be able to solve them which is an astonishing piece of technology.

   I'm personally not sure if it can come with original thinking and techniques to solve completely novel problems. For that, some imagination and thinking outside the box are required, and I doubt the current architecture can do any of this.

   1. mitthrowaway2 · 1790086708 · focus · HN ↗

      What's an example of a completely novel problem?

      1. mjburgess · 1790086847 · focus · HN ↗

         A child walking for the first time. Novelty is easiest agent-relative. A problem is novel for an agent if there is no prior experiences of techniques which work to solve it.

         1. bragr · 1790087179 · focus · HN ↗

            Is that a completely novel problem? Babies spend roughly a year watching us walk before they do so.

            1. mjburgess · 1790089440 · focus · HN ↗

               I was defining novelty somewhat more narrowly. The 'program' a child must learn concerns the coordination of its sensory-motor system. It has no prior experience of similar programs in the program-class Walking (ie., the internal sensory-motor actions needed to walk) . So we could call the problem of learning to walk a novel one for that child.

               I'd be surprised if direct observation of parents etc. played much of a direct role in learning to walk. I would guess it more furnishes the child's imagination so it can simulate itself walking -- rather than the statistical AI approach of 'learning the distribution of walking patterns in visual sensation'.

               The ability to simulate possible programs is one of the capacities which enable coping with novel circumstances. My guess is the child learns to walk by updating its simulation of what it needs to do in order to walk, by its attempts to walk.

               This simulation<->sensory-motor-update loop is missing in LLMs, for example.

               1. bragr · 1790119301 · focus · HN ↗

                  >It has no prior experience of similar programs in the program-class Walking

                  Crawling?

                  1. krige · 1790172193 · focus · HN ↗

                     Many toddlers skip directly from immobile to walking and never learn to crawl.

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