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A comment on Dijkstra comparing computer science to alchemy (1989).

Re:Dijkstra comparing computer science to alchemy (1989) by amelius on Sunday February 12, 2023 @01:09PM (#34765133)
I think with machine learning and especially the LLMs, we're getting pretty close to alchemy.

There's this quote that any sufficiently advanced tech is indistinguishable from magic. They probably didn't realize this was also true for the creators of that tech.

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Re:Dijkstra comparing computer science to alchemy (1989) by mmiliauskas on Sunday February 12, 2023 @01:52PM (#34765614)
Not disagreeing, just wondering, why you think ML anad LLMs is getting us pretty close to alchemy?
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Re:Dijkstra comparing computer science to alchemy (1989) by amelius on Sunday February 12, 2023 @01:56PM (#34765654)
Because we just try things and see what works.
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Re:Dijkstra comparing computer science to alchemy (1989) by touringa on Sunday February 12, 2023 @10:14PM (#34769744)
Ilya used that term a lot, and continues to do so.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/can-a-machine-...

https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1486728489319362571?lang=...

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