LLMs allow a new medium for communication.

· Bits and Bobs 1/21/25
  • LLMs allow a new medium for communication.
    • Don't use LLMs to write books.
    • Books are a static communication medium, one-size-fits-all, frozen for all time.
    • A book author makes a static guess at who the audience is: what they already know, what they care about.[agp][agq]
    • But the guess of the author directly sets who can possibly absorb the book.
      • If it's too long or dry it bores people.
      • If it doesn't use the right jargon it doesn't work for specialists.
      • If it does use the right jargon it's impenetrable to non-specialists.
    • The whole point of LLMs is that they're interactive and can adapt to the listener's knowledge and needs.
    • LLMs enable a new medium of choose-your-own-adventure, perfectly adapted to the reader to help them get just what they need to absorb the insight[agr][ags].
    • The downside is that we don't all have the same experience of it, like we do with a fixed piece of media.
    • But the upside is that we can learn so much more, because we have a medium of information exchange that can perfectly adapt itself to the listener, efficiently transmitting way more information[agt].

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