I am checking in to let my 3.6 Loyal Readers know a few items of late news:
1. I am, in fact, still alive.
2. My Beloved Bride, and the second of our two cats, are likewise still alive and doing well. The first cat, Sonny, died with lymphoma (but of euthanasia) just under a month ago. He was a very fine friend, and I miss him daily.
3. I have lately been fiddling with the newest generation of Large Language Model apps, which offer several important advances on their predecessors: that is, they move beyond the point where they can’t even pretend to tell a story, and on to the point where they merely pretend very badly. I am working on an essai to explain why I think this is necessarily so.
Happy 45 squared!
1 January 2025 by 5 Comments
I’m so sorry about Sonny
Thank you, Mary. Happy New Year!
Sorry about Sonny – those decisions are always wrenching.
But glad to hear you’re still alive and thinking about writing. I’ve missed your pieces.
Sorry to hear about Sonny!
I’ve also been fiddling with LLMs and I’m quite astounded at how much more convincing they’ve gotten at holding up their side of a conversation. Still not anything like people, of course! But I never expected it to get this good in my lifetime.
I’m sorry to hear about Sonny. Maybe it’s just the rubber ducky effect, but I’ve found arguing with the LLMs quite fun and sometimes helpful in clarifying my own thinking. I’m glad they are entertaining you as well, in their way.