Wes worried it might be unethical to keep using Claude. So he asked it. The Partially Examined Life · Ep. 403: Are LLMs Actually Intelligent? (Part One)

Mark Twain thought you were a machine. Here's the test: where exactly do the words you're about to say come from? "There's a sense in which I'm learning at the same time you are what I'm going to say. I'm here for the ride." The Partially Examined Life · Ep. 284: Mark Twain’s…

Are LLMs actually intelligent? Could they become so, given current architecture? We read Raphaël Millière (@raphaelmilliere) and Cameron Buckner's(@cameronjbuckner) "A Philosophical Introduction to Language Models, Part I: Continuity With Classic Debates" (2023). partiallyexaminedlife.com/20…

New episode — Ep. 403: Are LLMs Actually Intelligent? (Part One) Are large language models just autocomplete? New episode: what LLMs mean for old debates about thought.

Nietzsche asks you to say yes to living your life over and over, forever. Dylan has a list of things he would rather not repeat — and the examples get grim fast. The Partially Examined Life · Ep. 214: More Nietzsche’s Zarathustra

Plato argues the better man is the one who does wrong on purpose. The steps get sillier as they go. The Partially Examined Life · Ep. 402: Plato Talks Homer: Hippias Minor and Ion (Part Two)

Wonder Woman 1984 as a thought experiment in personal identity: her dead lover returns in another man's body, and all she sees is 'the you that I love.' Which raises a question the movie does not ask. The Partially Examined Life · Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity…

Better to teach people to choose their own culture than to control it from above. But isn't teaching itself top down? The Partially Examined Life · Ep. 402: Plato Talks Homer: Hippias Minor and Ion (Part Two)

"There's no reason a busboy should make less money than me." Say that to your leftist friends and watch what happens. Wes on what people who climb the hierarchy think they're really being compensated for — reading Simone Weil on force and power. The Partially Examined Life ·…

Should a great performer feel every emotion they convey? Plato's Ion says yes. Mark and Wes disagree. The Partially Examined Life · Ep. 402: Plato Talks Homer: Hippias Minor and Ion (Part Two)