I don't think a "true lossy encylopedia" is a thing that has ever existed.

One could argue that’s what a pocket encyclopaedia (those exist) is. But even if we say they don’t, when you make up a term by mushing two existing words together it helps if the term makes sense. Otherwise, why even use the existing words? You called it a “lossy enyclopedia” and not a “spaghetti ice cream” for a reason, presumably so the term evokes an image or concept in the mind of the reader. If it’s bringing up a different image than what you intended, perhaps it’s not a good term.

I remember you being surprised when the term “vibe coding” deviated from its original intention (I know you didn’t come up with it). But frankly I was surprised at your surprise—it was entirely predictable and obvious how the term was going to be used. The concept I’m attempting to communicate to you is that when you make up a term you have to think not only of the thing in your head but also of the image it conjures up in other people’s minds. Communication is a two-way street.

	▲	nyeah 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		I think you're saying that "pocket encyclopedia" is one definition of "lossy encyclopedia" that may occur to people (or that may get marketed on purpose). But that's a very poor definition of LLMs. And so the danger is that people may lock onto a wildly misleading definition. Am I getting the point?

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ianburrell 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

All encyclopedias are lossy. They curate the info they include, only choosing important topics. Wikipedia is lossy. They delete whole articles for irrelevance. They edit changes to make them more concise. They require sources for facts. All good things, but Wikipedia is a subset of human knowledge.

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prerok 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Since sibling comments all seem to have concentrated on idealistic good intent, I would also like to point out a different side of things.

I grew up in socialism. Since we've transitioned to democracy, I learned that I have to unlearn some things. Our encyclopedias were not inaccurate but were not complete. It's like lying through omission. And as the old saying goes, half-truths are worse than lies.

Whether this would be deemed as a lossy encyclopedia, I don't know. What I am certain of, however, is that it was accurate but omitted important additional facts.

And that is what I see in LLMs as well. Overall, it's accurate, except in cases where an additional fact would alter the conclusion. So, it either could not find arguments with that fact, or it chose to ignore them to give an answer and could be prompted into taking them into account or whatever.

What I do know is that LLMs of today give me the same hibbie-jibbies that rereading those encyclopedias of my youth give me.