Re:OLMo: Accelerating the Science of Language Models [pdf]
by antonvs on Friday February 02, 2024 @07:17PM
(#39236304)
If we had spent the money on bread for the poor instead, we wouldn't be facing an existential threat created by our lack of understanding of the consequences of our actions, and our collective inability to respond to that effectively.
Re:OLMo: Accelerating the Science of Language Models [pdf]
by wegfawefgawefg on Friday February 02, 2024 @09:11PM
(#39236982)
Consider the world before industry...
You really want to have 10 kids and have 50% or more of them die before 10 years old? You want a world before penecillin and antibiotics? No computers? No travel. Women getting marrried off at 15 immediatly pregnant. Most of the world in absolute poverty. Destroyed by a single bad season. Mass famines, plagues, tribal warfare that sweeps over your village. No clean water and soap. malnutrition.
These are just non problems for huge portions of the planet now.
Imagine how not obvious the first machines must have seemed at the start of the industrial revolution. You only have to feed a man and he can work, but a machine requires iron, oil, water, fuel, engineers, operators. The up front cost for exploring early digging machines must have been absurd. And im sure some people at the time thought: "Wow we could be spending this money on bread for the poor instead."
Arent you glad we didnt.