I think a closer analogy would be forgetting basic arithmetic as a concept. Imagine how hard it would be to work with more complex math without understanding what division is. How do you prompt the genie, or understand its outputs, without the foundational knowledge?

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win311fwg 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Is basic arithmetic something that can be forgotten? Studies have suggested that even infants have an understanding of basic arithmetic. There is a reasonable likelihood that it is something innate.

As we're only imagining anyway, let's ignore the genie for a moment. If we did lose our sense of basic arithmetic all of a sudden what would life at its core even be like? If there were two apples on a table you wouldn't be able to comprehend what happens if you took one. Would we even be able to function like that?

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tripleee 5 hours ago | parent [-]

You're taking the analogy too literally. The point that I'm trying to make is that in math, and a lot of areas, is that concepts build upon one another. To understand something at a 7/10 of complexity it first needs you to understand the 6/10 concepts that it builds upon.

	▲	win311fwg 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I believe it is more than you've missed the forest for the trees. You haven't accurately explained what understanding means. One might not rigorously understand x÷x=1 but still 'naturally' see that having two apples and taking one leaves one. And that's the thing: The genie, as in LLMs, are analogy machines so you can approach problems without a formal understanding as long as you can grasp the analogies. We have real world proof with 'vibe coders' producing incredibly complex math without much formal understanding of it. They know how to describe the input and interpret the output using words that relate to everyday things that they are familiar with, much like the apples on the table, and it accomplishes their goal. Perhaps there is a limit, sure, but I suppose that's where you lead with a concrete example to explain where that line is.