Thread

1. evolarjun · 1790192734 · focus · HN ↗

   It is odd (or maybe not) that they decided to publish a marketing whitepaper rather than a more traditional journal submission + preprint. The work does appear to be sufficient for a publication, though there's a good chance a reviewer will rip into them for some of the assertions they make, but given the topic I'm sure the paper will be accepted regardless.

   The market for entry-level programmers has already declined, but at least they were somewhat in demand and made reasonable salaries. Now what happens to post-docs who already make almost nothing and often get treated like crap?

   1. stets · 1790193202 · focus · HN ↗

      Medical advances are more important than post docs

      1. papyrus9244 · 1790193601 · focus · HN ↗

         Absolutely. But without post docs, it won't be long before we are unable to understand what the LLMs are suggesting.

         1. sterlind · 1790198534 · focus · HN ↗

            many drugs were discovered, evaluated and approved without understanding at all how they worked.

            iirc back in the day chemists synthesized a whole bunch of random compounds, observed their effects (in mice etc., or even the chemists tasting them!) then did clinical trials to measure safety and efficacy.

            high-throughput screening of chemical libraries on in vitro assays is the modern version of this. "rational" drug design, which uses understanding of mechanisms to design chemical structures for a specific purpose, largely failed back in the '80s.

            1. suddenlybananas · 1790200870 · focus · HN ↗

               Well I guess who gives a shit about knowledge

               1. dekhn · 1790203549 · focus · HN ↗

                  The way I ask it in public situations with scientists is this: If you had an AI that could output cures for diseases (IE, drugs that pass phase III clinical trial, get approved by the FDA, and are highly effective), but it couldn't explain how it worked, would you use it?

                  Opinions are mixed. Some folks will say that it's morally imperative to cure people even if we don't understand the specific or general principles. Other folks will insist that it's a terrible idea to hand over the comprehension of medical treatments to LLMs, because in the long term it will leave us helpless and dependent.

                  1. pona-a · 1790258259 · focus · HN ↗

                     [delayed]

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