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> we know how to structure societies with very few corrupted people

We do?


I'm a novice in this area, but my understanding is that LLM parameters ("neurons", roughly?), when processed, encode a probability for token selection/generation that is much more complex and many:one than "parameter A is used in layer B, therefore suggest token C", and not a specific "if activated then do X" outcome. Given that, how would this work?

The key part of the article is that token structure interpretation is a training time concern, not just an input/output processing concern (which still leads to plenty of inconsistency and fragmentation on its own!). That means both that training stakeholders at model development shops need to be pretty incorporated into the tool/syntax development process, which leads to friction and slowdowns. It also means that any current improvements/standardizations in the way we do structured LLM I/O will necessarily be adopted on the training side after a months/years lag, given the time it takes to do new-model dev and training.

That makes for a pretty thorny mess ... and that's before we get into disincentives for standardization (standardization risks big AI labs' moat/lockin).


I'm curious why this was downvoted--I'm not complaining or trying to go against HN guidelines; I'm genuinely unclear as to why the first-party source for the article clarifying the question in GP was marked dead. Bad actors? Misinterpretation? Other?

No idea, I thought it was a valid question and we go to great lengths in our methodology for this reason. The audits we supply for enterprise are highly specific as to cookie purpose for this reason: https://webxray.ai

Good-token/bad-token overlap is near 100%. For example, try interacting with quantitative data, or program code, without using these tokens:

> :(){ :|: & };:

Now try running that in your shell.


We've also made progress as a species towards banning and reducing other things that in-group upsides and really bad externalities: off-the-shelf sale of broad system antibiotics; chattel slavery; human organ trafficking; some damaging recreational drugs.

The prohibitions aren't perfect, of course (and not without their own negative externalities in some cases). But all of those things are much more accessible to people than nuclear weapons, and we've still had successes in banning/reducing them. So maybe there's hope yet.


This is an entertaining (and often exasperating) decades-old trend in competitive U.S. college debate, as well.

A common advantageous strategy is to take the randomly-selected topic, however unrelated, and invent a chain of logic that claims that taking a given side/action leads to an infinitesimal risk of nuclear extinction/massive harms. This results in people arguing that e.g. "building more mass transit networks" is a bad idea because it leads to a tiny increase in the risk of extinction--via chains as silly as "mass transit expansion needs energy, increased energy production leads to more EM radiation, evil aliens--if they exist--are very marginally more likely to notice us due to increased radiation and wipe out the human race". That's not a made-up example.

The strategy is just like the LessWrongers' one: if you can put your opponent in the position of trying to reduce P(doom), you can argue that unless it's reduced to actual zero, the magnitude of the potential negative consequence is so severe as to overwhelm any consideration of its probability.

In competitive debate, this is a strong strategy. Not a cheat-code--there are plenty of ways around it--but common and enduring for many years.

As an aside: "debate", as practiced competitively, often bears little relation to "debate" as understood by the general public. There are two main families of competitive debate: one is more outward-facing and oriented towards rhetorical/communication/persuasion practice; the other is more ingrown and oriented towards persuading other debaters, in debate-community-specific terms, of which side should win. There's overlap, but the two tend to be practiced/judged by separate groups, according to different rubrics, and/or in different spaces or events. That second family is what I'm referring to above.


If a linter insists on a weird line of code, I’m probably commenting that line as “recommended by whatever-linter”, yes.

I wouldn't but I can see why some people would.

I can't point out where I draw the line clearly but here's one different I notice:

A recommendation can be both a thing and an action. A piece of text is a recommendation and it does not matter how it was created.

Assistance implies some parity in capabilities and cooperative work. Also it can pretty much only be an action, you cannot say "here is some assistance" and point to a thing.


> groups that actively pursue the government for violating our constitutional rights

Could you share some examples?



Yep, great example.

not the ancestor poster, but you might want to check out https://fire.org/ and https://ij.org/

Citation needed, bad faith suspected.

Even adjusted for maternity and career entry/exit differences, the gender pay gap is still big and real. And while there is overlap and outliers, many more women-dominated industries are at lower pay segments (and with fewer benefits) than industries dominated by men.


> the gender pay gap is still big and real

Not that big however if you control for line of work (which industry), education, prior experience, and part-time vs. full-time employment.


Also worth noting that several studies have shown pay differentials to be highly correlated with women being less likely to negotiate compensation or ask for less.

https://www.nber.org/digest/apr13/do-women-avoid-salary-nego...


Although newer studies seem to show that this is perhaps no longer such a big factor.

https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/new-research-shatters-o...


How about adjusted for people who are welding things underwater or throwing 25 kilo garbage bins into a truck?

Thanks for being a big strong tall sexy garbage welder man from Europe commenting on an US specific article.

When women put on scuba gear or touch a arc welder their ovaries explode, killing them instantly.

55lbs also is well known to instantly disable women who do, in fact, labor in physical jobs.

The moment a child turns 7 and reaches that weight, women lose the ability to move the child at all, leading to tragic outcomes.

In all seriousness, just because a certain job is socialized a certain way, doesn't imply a fundamental lack of ability.

Being the only woman on a certain kind of male team sucks so so much more than having to put on scuba gear or lifting something heavy.


This isn't the best way to use HN.

> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously;

https://qht.co/newsguidelines.html


Do you think your comment was any of those things?

Why are you free from the bounds of courtesy, but fall back on them the moment someone responds in kind?

Do you really believe that women cannot arc weld? Do you really believe that women cannot scuba dive? Do you really believe that women cannot lift 25kg or take out the trash?

If you do, then it's rather unkind and incurious to cast half of the human population as so fundamentally incapable, and you should bring evidence to support your assertion.

If you don't actually believe it, then the substance of your comment is unkind snark, no?

Your original comment is just a warmed-over version of "women wouldn't last a day in a real man job"

We've been hearing that repeated ad infinitum as women have continued to prove the assertion wrong.

For the record though, I don't think anyone should do a job that has a 1/15 fatality rate. Men shouldn't be cannon fodder either.


> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

https://qht.co/newsguidelines.html


I can't imagine a good faith interpretation of 'women can't do physical labour'. A failing on my part I'm sure. do you have one?

I didn't say anything like that.

Who still lifts garbage cans into a truck, male or female?

It's been cab and camera operated hydraulic lifts on wheelie bins for decades here.


Uh, anywhere around me in the US.

Well that's kind of sad.

Next you'll be telling me that male US farmers roll up several thousand yards of fencing by hand to move it rather than have female jillaroos spool it up on a hydraulic spindle.


Underwater welding does pay extremely well. But to break into that field needs a commercial diving license and lots of time/skill at saturation diving. Basically, it is easier to train a diver to weld than it is to teach a welder to be a commercial diver. Many (US) entrants are ex-SEAL. There's about 20-25k such people worldwide and the death rate is about 1 in 15. Career ending injuries are about the same. If you need nightmare fuel: "Byford Dolphin".

Is this even relevant to their post?

The article is pretty clear, Women are getting most of the new jobs because they're in fields that Men largely don't try to enter (ex. Teaching).

Like whats the big initiative to increase the amount of Women with a Masters of Education? I've heard of a bunch for STEM but Men still dominate that field but that field is growing slower than other Women dominated ones so it's a non-sequitor.


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