Deep and useful. It plugs in well into the ideas from "The All-Knowing Father", an essay written more than 1 year ago, which also saw LLMs as a new kind of interface to knowledge. There are in it two analogies to LLMs, the map and the hologram. Going further with the map one, the two scenarios you talk about will translate to an inexperienced explorer vs an experienced explorer, both using a detailed but not verified map to reach their goal (it may include a lot of non-existing features and may omit existing ones). It is easy to see the possible result. Maybe the most important point is that "knowing what" is very different from "knowing how"; experience is much more than abstract knowledge. This will reinforce the specialization effect you describe. The essay is here, I genuinely think it will be of interest to you: https://antimaterie.substack.com/p/the-all-knowing-father
An excellent comparison, Nicolas! It is very useful to differentiate between technological and process innovation. Another example would be electrification: Right after the commercial production of electricity started, there was a surge in investments into power plants, and rightly so of course. But in the long run, the value creation was in the companies that successfully integrated electricity in their manufacturing processes and therefore became more competitive. It is not a question of doing one and not the other - we Europeans should invest in the application layer as well as the models, but I think the sequence matters: https://danielflorian.substack.com/p/the-unsolved-dilemma-in-henna-virkkunens
Thanks, Daniel, for the comment. I fully agree on electrification, and I see a second wave coming with massive, revolutionary impact. Reflecting on this, I’ve been studying the first wave of electrification at the end of the 19th century and am in full agreement with your analysis.
Deep and useful. It plugs in well into the ideas from "The All-Knowing Father", an essay written more than 1 year ago, which also saw LLMs as a new kind of interface to knowledge. There are in it two analogies to LLMs, the map and the hologram. Going further with the map one, the two scenarios you talk about will translate to an inexperienced explorer vs an experienced explorer, both using a detailed but not verified map to reach their goal (it may include a lot of non-existing features and may omit existing ones). It is easy to see the possible result. Maybe the most important point is that "knowing what" is very different from "knowing how"; experience is much more than abstract knowledge. This will reinforce the specialization effect you describe. The essay is here, I genuinely think it will be of interest to you: https://antimaterie.substack.com/p/the-all-knowing-father
Thank you very much, Florin, and apologies for the late reply. I’m using the quiet summer to catch up on Substack comments. I’ll read the essay now.
An epic read.
Thanks so much, Chris! Glad you liked it.
An excellent comparison, Nicolas! It is very useful to differentiate between technological and process innovation. Another example would be electrification: Right after the commercial production of electricity started, there was a surge in investments into power plants, and rightly so of course. But in the long run, the value creation was in the companies that successfully integrated electricity in their manufacturing processes and therefore became more competitive. It is not a question of doing one and not the other - we Europeans should invest in the application layer as well as the models, but I think the sequence matters: https://danielflorian.substack.com/p/the-unsolved-dilemma-in-henna-virkkunens
Thanks, Daniel, for the comment. I fully agree on electrification, and I see a second wave coming with massive, revolutionary impact. Reflecting on this, I’ve been studying the first wave of electrification at the end of the 19th century and am in full agreement with your analysis.