s/random/statistically-likely/g

Reducing the distance of each statistical leap improves “performance” since you would avoid failure modes that are specific to the largest statistical leaps, but it doesn’t change the underlying mechanism. Reasoning models still “hallucinate” spectacularly even with “shorter” gaps.

What's wrong with statistically likely?

If I ask you what's 2+2, there's a single answer I consider much more likely than others.

Sometimes, words are likely because they are grounded in ideas and facts they represent.