Thread

1. tobias2014 · 1790711871 · focus · HN ↗

   Why would someone ruin their academic credentials and reputation (at a reputable university) like this? Maybe there was nothing to begin with? Otherwise I can't understand this.

   1. lstodd · 1790712037 · focus · HN ↗

      Maybe to expose the utter uselessness of "papers".

      1. sho_hn · 1790712243 · focus · HN ↗

         I'm not an academic, and I understand by osmosis that organized science has many problems related to publishing and connected mechanisms, but I have to say there's been quite a few moments in my life and career when I found the inspiration or solution I needed in a good paper.

         For condensed knowledge on highly specific topics (i.e. more specific than is economical in book form) I often know nothing better.

         Most recently I did sort of a self-taught crash course in ground-penetrating radar and applications for an archeological endeavour I write software for, and a number of papers have been really invaluable.

         1. dekhn · 1790712431 · focus · HN ↗

            I think one of the end-game components for AI is to be able to read all the literature and generate a reliable list of which ones are not correct and a convincing reason why.

            1. GolfPopper · 1790723482 · focus · HN ↗

               >... and a convincing reason why.

               I believe this is one of the LLMs' more destructive elements. The more effective ones are quite good at providing output that gets the meat to repeat the output to other meat. Whether the output actually benefits the meat is disconnected from whether or not the meat accepts and repeats it.

               1. dekhn · 1790731060 · focus · HN ↗

                  Change the word LLM to "teacher" and I think the statement is still true.

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