And it gets even better since when called out it wouldn't just take my word for it but only acknowledged the issue after parsing the log with clearly delineated user and model output.
So yeah while impressive things are able to be done, the current models are also dumb AF and an idiot savant is a pretty good label for them.
Besides, have you spoken to someone lately that everyone would calls a genius? They can say the most braindead stuff sometimes. I wouldn't use worst-case performance as an indication of general capacity.
>> Humans identify which "algorithm they have memorized" to use beforehand, due to the problem to be solved being defined by other humans ...
> This doesn't make any sense at all. Was this supposed to be a gotcha?
No, it was meant to be an explanation as to the difference between "memorization" and "understanding." In this context, people pick the algorithm they determine applicable and then the question of memorization is relevant.
> An LLM is trained on problems defined by other humans, and identifies which algorithm it must use based on pattern recognition.
Funny that you make this argument here, where when I wrote elsewhere in this thread:
[LLMs] are statistical token generators whose results are
dependent upon their training data set and involve a
degree of randomness.
Nothing more.
...
It is pattern recognition, a task in which ANNs excel.
During conversation, we are statistical token generators
whose results are dependent upon our training set.
Seriously, write that definition out rigorously. It
encompasses virtually everything. It is totally
meaningless. So to say "nothing more" is effectively also a
tautology.
This argument was asinine in 2024. It is insane to be
saying these things in 2026. Where have you been?
...
It absolutely understands how to do math, by whatever
reasonable definition you want to provide to the word
"understand".
Are LLMs ANNs? Which themselves are pattern recognition algorithms (hint: they are)?
OR (setting aside the ad hominems you kindly provided)
Do LLMs possess "understanding" of concepts such as abstract mathematics (defined and interpreted by humans) and we, as simple humans, nothing more than statistical token generators as you assert?
Because it cannot be both.
I also would not argue that humans are "simple token generators". That is not what I said. I said that just about everything can fall under the classification of "statistical token generators" at an abstract level, so it isn't a useful distinction. We are not talking about a Markov chain generator from the 90s, so if that is the frame of reference, I think we should all get that out of our heads.
Okay fine. I think we can agree to disagree on that.
You have observed nothing more than that a human can turn a shaft the same as an electric motor, and that an mp3 player can say "hello" the same as a human.
Understanding is a state of mind. As such, it exists entirely within an individual and nowhere else.
For example, take any two university professors who teach the same subject where one only speaks Arabic and the other only speaks Vietnamese. Each will not be able to understand what the other says, regardless their understanding of the shared topic.
> I argue that for any proper definition [of understanding] you provide which humans satisfy, a strong LLM is very likely to satisfy that as well.
This is demonstrably incorrect as detailed above. There is no "understanding" LLMs can satisfy as we know it, since to certify said "understanding", it requires interpretation by a person to "know" an LLM "understands."
> I also would not argue that humans are "simple token generators". That is not what I said.
That is the essence of what you wrote, unless you object to my use of "simple" instead of "statistical". In this context, I postulate this is a distinction without difference.
> I said that just about everything can fall under the classification of "statistical token generators" at an abstract level, so it isn't a useful distinction.
This only holds if one subscribes to statistical token generators being a/the fundamental underpinning of "everything". Here is a proof by contradiction:
If everything can be classified as a derivative of
statistical token generation, how does one explain
quantum physics?For example, take any two university professors who teach the same subject where one only speaks Arabic and the other only speaks Vietnamese. Each will not be able to understand what the other says, regardless their understanding of the shared topic.
What? What are you even trying to say?
> Understanding is a state of mind
This is meaningless, it is a circular definition at best.
> It exists entirely within the individual and nowhere else
Then why are we talking about it? What is the point if it is something that can only be defined per individual?
Regarding your language example; this is a case of missing vocabulary (excluding grammar of course, but I feel like that is second-order), which is not the same as conceptual understanding. We are often able to translate because we have shared concepts. Those concepts are what we really care to assess with LLMs.
> requires interpretation by a person to "know" an LLM "understands."
We are still not getting anywhere because you have not prescribed criteria to determine whether it understands. If it is a "know it when I see it" situation, that clearly isn't working. For example, if you say that you need to dig into its internals and figure out whether it is breaking things down appropriately, that doesn't work because you probably don't have the expertise to do that. The experts that do are telling you that it very likely understands because it pulls apart most concepts in the way we would expect.
I do object to the use of the word "simple". "Statistical" is so broad to be almost meaningless; it merely means that a prediction is being made in the presence of data which possibly contains some degree of uncertainty. "Simple" encompasses that which can be understood readily by a non-expert.
Quantum mechanics is statistical (this is literally the Born rule), but evolutions are not operating as stochastic processes in the sense of Kolmogorov. That is very different, and not relevant to our discussion.
Any reasonable definition of understanding is not dependent upon "whatever vibe you are going for", but instead must include at least an English dictionary definition of "understand" such as:
to grasp the meaning of[0]
to lay hold of with the mind[1]
to lay hold of with the mind the meaning of
>> Understanding is a state of mind
> This is meaningless, it is a circular definition at best.
See above to as to why there is meaning in what I wrote.
>> It exists entirely within the individual and nowhere else
> Then why are we talking about it? What is the point if it is something that can only be defined per individual?
I like to think analyzing fundamental premises, often implicit, explicitly can help to identify fallacious positions.
> We are still not getting anywhere because you have not prescribed criteria to determine whether [an LLM] understands.
My apologies for being opaque. Let me clarify:
LLMs do not "understand". People interpreting LLM output
are the only entities involved which can "understand",
because "understanding" exists strictly within each
person who possesses it.