> Language is absolutely pattern matching

OK - so long as you also agree that language is thought.

Until the advent of LLMs - language was considered the pinnacle of human intelligence. But humans have some need for mysticism at the root of their beliefs - so they chase the gaps in our knowledge. Like "God of the gaps."

Sure, world models will help navigate physical space; they are effectively the animal mind. Will they help unwind the laws of the universe? Probably not at all. Language is sufficient. Because it is thought.

▲

willy_k a day ago | parent [-]

Language reflects thought. LLMs are a search function over text, text that reflects previous thought; they cannot create.

▲

qarl a day ago | parent [-]

> they cannot create

Every single day we have new and wondrous examples of the things LLMs have created.

Clearly we are using very different definitions of the word.

▲

willy_k a day ago | parent [-]

Synthesize != create. A new combination of existing things is different from a new thing

▲

qarl a day ago | parent [-]

Music is combined notes. Stories are combined words. Newton combined existing mathematics to produce calculus.

I'm wondering if you can name anything that counts as a "creation" under your definition?

▲

willy_k a day ago | parent [-]

Stories and music, their character, comes from combined motifs and themes. These are what gives them meaning. Creation is tied to meaning; one can’t separate human meaning out of the conversation. Without human meaning - new perspectives gained, beauty found - all things are equivalently pointless, and all an LLM is doing is shifting (very high-order, having gone through the steps to end up in training data) entropy around.

	▲	qarl a day ago \| parent [-]
		No - I mean my question genuinely. I'd like you to name one specific creation that isn't a combination of what has come before it. I'd rather get specific than talk about hypotheticals.