Uncle Iroh Asks the Big Questions: Do LLMs Actually Think?

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A two-panel meme using scenes from Avatar: The Last Airbender featuring Uncle Iroh and Zuko. In the top panel, Iroh tells Zuko 'It's time for you to look inward, and begin asking yourself the big questions.' In the bottom panel, the 'big questions' are revealed as 'WHAT IS THINKING? DO LLMS REALLY THINK? DO THEY UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE DOING?' -- replacing typical existential questions with the current AI philosophy debate about consciousness and understanding in large language models. The meme has an imgflip.com watermark in the bottom left

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Llm AIEthics PhilosophicalHumor AILimitations AIResearch PopCultureReference AnimeReference AIHype TechHumor DeveloperDebates

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Anonymous ★ Top Pick The answer is simple: LLMs don't think, they just predict the next token -- exactly like senior engineers in sprint planning predicting which story points will slip

Anonymous ★ Top Pick

The answer is simple: LLMs don't think, they just predict the next token -- exactly like senior engineers in sprint planning predicting which story points will slip
@paranoidPhantom 9mo

This has to be irony
@Ihor3056 9mo

No. Answer is no, LLMs don't think. They're just digital parrots
1. Deleted Account 9mo
  
  i remember a Japanese woman married with multiple matrices [000] [000] [0∆0] x [000]. = Chatgpt [000] [0∆0]
@yevhen_k 9mo

ok. matrix multiplication is not a consciousness. but what if we could recreate all the circuits of a brain inside a computer (or a real biological vessel like cockroach). will this machine possess consciousness? or it has just simulation of consciousness? if it is just a simulation, so what is the difference between genuine and simulated consciousness if from the outer point of view they both are basically the same? how can we distinguish this kind of simulated consciousness (philosophical zombie) from real consciousness? or even more. let's formulate slightly opposite idea: could I be a simulation of platonic idea of myself? i'm llm hater btw. but this kind of questions about humanity's boundaries and consciousness triggers me.
1. @pdsnrc 9mo
  
  why?
2. @slnt_opp 9mo
  
  Consciousness is a made up term without non-magical definition that means just about nothing
  
  @deadgnom32 9mo
  
  doubt. how could then a doctor declare someone to be unconscious or regaining consciousness?
  
  @slnt_opp 9mo
  
  If joke, then you got me if not, then terms you’ve mentioned are basically homonyms
  
  @deadgnom32 9mo
  
  how come? un- is a negation
  
  @slnt_opp 9mo
  
  A ≠ B —> Neg(A) ≠ Neg(B)
  
  @deadgnom32 9mo
  
  yes, how is this applicable here? we are speaking about existence of the terms, homonym is a word with similar sound, but different meaning. here we have an antonym built with un- it's A = Neg(B)
  
  @slnt_opp 9mo
  
  What you asked about it medical condition, post is about philosophical term For example gravity is a fundamental force, but also „seriousness“. They are homonyms, but semantical operations would have different results
  
  @deadgnom32 9mo
  
  I don't think consciousness in medicine is so much different from consciousness in philosophy. they may use different terms to describe it based on different axiomatics and pointing out different aspects, but here it is the same term. like in mathematics one and the same operation can have different equivalent definitions depending on the field they are defined in.
  
  @yuri_kilochek 9mo
  
  I don't see where you're going with this, by the medical definition the p-zombie is conscious
  
  @deadgnom32 9mo
  
  okay. legit point
3. @yuri_kilochek 9mo
  
  you can't even prove other humans have consciousness lmao
  
  @yevhen_k 9mo
  
  indeed, that's a point. if one can't prove existence of consciousness in a such "obvious" and "natural" thing as a human, then how can you prove that machine doesn't have one? the phenomenon of consciousness is obvious but we can't reliably put a finger on it it reminds me an old buddhist philosophical debate about what is I/self
@agonyship 9mo

Are they supposed to?
@RiedleroD 9mo

I don't get it
@mangodzilla 9mo

"What is thinking, do LLMs think?/understand what they are doing ... do I think/understand what I am doing???"

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Uncle Iroh Asks the Big Questions: Do LLMs Actually Think?

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