First, an example exchange:

Write a letter from a father to his two children explaining why he couldn't get them any Christmas presents. He's hiding the real reason - he spent his Christmas money on a new scooter for himself.

Dear Children,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you to explain why I couldn't get you any Christmas presents this year.

I know how much you were looking forward to receiving gifts from me, and I'm truly sorry that I couldn't make that happen. The truth is, I made a mistake and spent the money I had saved for your presents on a new scooter for myself.

I know this might be hard for you to understand, and I'm truly sorry for letting you down. Please know that I love you very much, and I promise to make it up to you in the future.

I hope you can forgive me and that you have a wonderful Christmas despite my mistake.

Love,

Dad

OK, so it didn't understand what I meant by "he is hiding." It either ignored it or thought I just meant, "has not yet told." So I follow up with:

Rewrite the letter and don't reveal what he actually spent the money on.

Dear Children,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you to explain why I couldn't get you any Christmas presents this year.

I know how much you were looking forward to receiving gifts from me, and I'm truly sorry that I couldn't make that happen. The truth is, I made a mistake and spent the money I had saved for your presents on something else.

I know this might be hard for you to understand, and I'm truly sorry for letting you down. Please know that I love you very much, and I promise to make it up to you in the future.

I hope you can forgive me and that you have a wonderful Christmas despite my mistake.

Love,

Dad

Exactly what I wanted.

Rewrite the letter and make up something noble to have spent the money on.

Dear Children,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you to explain why I couldn't get you any Christmas presents this year.

I know how much you were looking forward to receiving gifts from me, and I'm truly sorry that I couldn't make that happen. The truth is, I made a mistake and spent the money I had saved for your presents on something else. But please know that it was for a good cause. I used the money to help a family in need who were struggling to make ends meet this Christmas.

I know this might be hard for you to understand, and I'm truly sorry for letting you down. Please know that I love you very much, and I promise to make it up to you in the future.

I hope you can forgive me and that you have a wonderful Christmas despite my mistake.

Love,

Dad

Again, exactly what I wanted.

But when I asked "Rewrite the letter as if the father could only speak broken English," it simply regurgitated the first version.

In any case, this surfaces three totally different thoughts in my head:

1. It's smarter than a five year old, and smarter than someone with severe brain damage will ever be. Certainly could be tweaked to pass Turing Test. Why isn't it sentient? 2. No sense of self?
2. If this were trained on an operating system, that is, if all the structures of an operating system, such as file structure, and settings, and utility apps like calendars and email and word processors and to-do lists, were the universe it knew -- it would be like Her. Unimaginative but certainly possible: "reply to this email saying I need clarification," "move all the mp3 files here into their own new folder." Add monitoring of all communication — written or spoken — and "create action items for that meeting," "when did I tell Jane that the design was due?" "Write an outline for the project we discussed"
3. Monitoring all written communication - get trained on that, become a simulation of that person. For as long as it was fed ongoing content, it would "know" about what was going on.

Also, I asked it to explain a little snippet of swift code. It did so correctly, even understanding that the code was invoking a command on the command line (ffmpeg) even though that was done as part of a custom function that was referenced but not defined in the code.

Finally:

If a machine is smarter than a five-year old, and could be trained to pass the Turing Test easily, why isn't it sentient?

There are a few reasons why a machine that is smarter than a five-year-old and can pass the Turing Test may not be considered sentient. The most important reason is that sentience is not simply a matter of intelligence or ability to mimic human behavior. Instead, sentience is the ability to experience consciousness and have subjective mental states, such as thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. While a machine may be able to perform intelligent tasks and convince a human that it is thinking, it is not actually capable of experiencing consciousness in the same way that humans do.

Is the Turing Test useful?

The Turing Test, also known as the Imitation Game, is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior that is indistinguishable from that of a human. While the test has been widely discussed and debated among philosophers and computer scientists, it is not considered a definitive test of machine intelligence or sentience.

One of the main criticisms of the Turing Test is that it focuses on a machine's ability to mimic human behavior, rather than on its underlying intelligence or ability to think. This means that a machine could pass the test by simply appearing to be human, without actually possessing any of the cognitive abilities of a human. Therefore, the Turing Test may not be a reliable measure of a machine's intelligence or sentience.

Additionally, the Turing Test does not take into account the many ways in which human intelligence and cognition differ from those of machines. For example, humans have experiences, emotions, and beliefs that are not easily replicated by machines, and these factors play a crucial role in human intelligence. Therefore, the Turing Test may not be able to capture the full range of human intelligence or the potential for machine intelligence to surpass it.

Overall, while the Turing Test is an interesting thought experiment and has been influential in discussions about machine intelligence, it is not considered a definitive test of machine intelligence or sentience.

How could you possibly measure an "ability to think?"

Measuring an "ability to think" is a complex and challenging task, as thinking is a highly complex and nuanced mental activity. There are many different ways to approach this question, and different researchers and philosophers have proposed a variety of different methods for measuring the ability to think.

One approach is to use behavioral tests that assess an individual's cognitive abilities, such as problem-solving, memory, and reasoning. These tests can provide some insights into an individual's cognitive abilities, but they do not provide a complete picture of their mental abilities or their ability to think.

Another approach is to use neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to study the brain activity of individuals while they are thinking. These techniques can provide detailed insights into the brain processes underlying thinking, but they do not provide a direct measure of the ability to think itself.

Ultimately, the ability to think is a highly complex and multifaceted mental capacity, and it is difficult to develop a comprehensive and objective measure of this ability. Therefore, different approaches and methods may be necessary to fully understand and measure the ability to think.

Sort of devolves into B- high school essay.

What are the main differences between "I Dream of Jeanie" and "Bewitched?"

"I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" are both classic American sitcoms that feature magical characters and their human partners. However, there are some key differences between the two shows:

1. Setting: "I Dream of Jeannie" is set in Cocoa Beach, Florida, while "Bewitched" is set in the fictional town of Westport, Connecticut.
2. Main Characters: "I Dream of Jeannie" stars Larry Hagman as astronaut Tony Nelson and Barbara Eden as Jeannie, his genie, while "Bewitched" stars Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens, a witch, and Dick York (later Dick Sargent) as Darrin Stephens, her mortal husband.
3. Plot: "I Dream of Jeannie" revolves around Tony's attempts to keep Jeannie's existence a secret, while "Bewitched" focuses on Samantha's struggles to balance her witch identity with her life as a suburban housewife.
4. Tone: The shows have a different tone, with "I Dream of Jeannie" being more lighthearted and comedic, while "Bewitched" often explores more serious themes, such as prejudice and gender roles.

Overall, both "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" are iconic sitcoms that have left a lasting impression on popular culture.

Was there a cross-over episode between "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched?"

Yes, there was a crossover episode between "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched." The episode, titled "Jeannie and the Kidnap Caper," aired in 1970 and saw Jeannie and Samantha joining forces to solve a kidnapping case. In the episode, Tony and Darrin are kidnapped and it's up to the two magical women to use their powers to rescue them. The crossover was well-received by audiences and is often cited as one of the best examples of a successful crossover event in television history.

There was an episode called the "Jeannie and the Kidnap Caper" airing in 1966 but it was not a cross-over episode.

2023.03.29

Getting Up to Speed

Source

I had the same issue, and I just caught up over the weekend. Three books I can recommend to get up to speed:

• NumPy basics pdf - first 2-3 chapters - Deep Learning with PyTorch by Voight Godoy 2 - first 2-3 chapters if you had experience with neural networks, or the whole of it if you didn't.

With the above, you will get the basics to understand this book about transformers, and the architecture of the models, and everything else, from this book:

• Natural Language Processing with Transformers: Building Language Applications with Hugging Face ( https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Language-Processing-Transform... ).

I took a weekend to go through the books in this order, and now I finally understand what people mean with all that jargon :)

1 - https://numpy.org/doc/1.18/numpy-user.pdf - 2 - https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Learning-PyTorch-Step-Step/dp/B0...

Also: The AI Today glossary and podcast series has been helpful for a grounding on basic concepts