This post is coming to you from Los Angeles as I continue to visit communities to talk about my new book, The Shabbat Effect. I don’t quite live up to the Johnny Cash song, “I’ve been Everywhere,” but I’m working on it. Tomorrow, I head to New York where I will do three talks before moving on to New Jersey. You can see my tour calendar
I sit next to the technical support guy at our office. 55 people in the office, but also part of a global team.
He takes everything with a smile. He could be yelled at by a frustrated Wall Street trader whot is convinced he is losing millions of dollars a minute, and therefore a bit stressed out, and he just "actively listens" like a psychologist, slight smile on his face (not a big smile that would annoy) and addressed the problem.
When he asks you, "Hello, how are you?" in his rare mix of New Delhi and Tel Aviv, he actually wants to know how your are!
A few of us call him Ariel haQadosh (the holy Ariel).
It is also a pun on the acronym the author of Lirianic Qabbalah is often called by, the Ari haQadosh (E-lohi (A) Rabbi (R) Yitchak (I)), godly Rabbi Isaac).
I sometimes bring a Torah to work. It's the Torah used in the last-car morning service in the train. And when the regular Torah carrier telecommutes, I sometimes fill in. But the chorus insists that I leave it near Ariels desk, because holiness attracts holiness.
It is interesting that they chose this nickname linking refinement to holiness. (I wasn't in this office yet, so "they".)
I think the way AI is going, Ariel will become a "manager" of a team of Simulated Intelligences. ("Artificial Intelligence" is false and misleading.)
The people who will lose jobs are those graduating or recently graduated. In the US, the people with all that college debt (as well as the rich kids). Because if Ariel can delegate to things that only cost the company maybe $1000 / month per agent tops, why would they pay a salary?
But you will still need someone who knows what needs to be done to translate experience into instructions and check work. "AI" doesn't learn the way we do once the initial training phase is over. At most, it can collect external data to query later.
Also, large language models model language, unsurprisingly, not the part of the universe they are dealing with. They highlight Unkelus's adaption of G-d "blew a living nefesh" to become about giving him a "speaking ruach".
When a LLM puts out its first word, it is only based on the conversation so far. It doesn't have a plan as to where it's going. It just adds that word to the history and tries again. Nothing about that creates an understanding of the situation. Even with "AI"s to extend his reach, there is still a need for an Ariel to fill in that gap.
It is incredible how much of our intelligence is about speech. But not all of it. When we say "elephant" we can not only reason using the token "elephant" but we can also compare what is being discussed to our mental images of elephants.
This LLM thing is not a step toward Artificial General Intelligence, if such a thing is even within human grasp. It's a detour. Fool's gold.
Where my industry will start hurting is 5-10 years from now. There will be no one to promote to Sr Developer -- or in Ariel's case, Sr Tech Support -- because they didn't train any juniors up to the task.
I confess I trip over the word "refinement" here. For me it brings to mind British ladies sipping tea with their pinkie fingers extended. I wish you could explore the concept more.
I do understand that it is meant to be what is not coarse in behaviour, of course, but it still does not resonate, partly because in German (and I thought in Yiddish, too), "ehrlich" and "Ehrlichkeit" mean simply honest/honesty.
What the link is between honesty and refinement? I would call myself a very honest person, but no one has ever accused me of being refined.
Ilse, think of refinement as what a jeweller does. The two words are related in Hebrew. Within each of us, there is some priceless metal and there is also some dross. With skill, the jeweller separates the metal from the dross, and what remains is the refined gold or silver. A lot of our spiritual work does not involve acquiring new qualities but rather sifting out the aspects that are not serving our spiritual growth and ascent. That’s refinement as I think we are meant to understand it in this context.
I sit next to the technical support guy at our office. 55 people in the office, but also part of a global team.
He takes everything with a smile. He could be yelled at by a frustrated Wall Street trader whot is convinced he is losing millions of dollars a minute, and therefore a bit stressed out, and he just "actively listens" like a psychologist, slight smile on his face (not a big smile that would annoy) and addressed the problem.
When he asks you, "Hello, how are you?" in his rare mix of New Delhi and Tel Aviv, he actually wants to know how your are!
A few of us call him Ariel haQadosh (the holy Ariel).
It is also a pun on the acronym the author of Lirianic Qabbalah is often called by, the Ari haQadosh (E-lohi (A) Rabbi (R) Yitchak (I)), godly Rabbi Isaac).
I sometimes bring a Torah to work. It's the Torah used in the last-car morning service in the train. And when the regular Torah carrier telecommutes, I sometimes fill in. But the chorus insists that I leave it near Ariels desk, because holiness attracts holiness.
It is interesting that they chose this nickname linking refinement to holiness. (I wasn't in this office yet, so "they".)
Will AI take Ariel’s job? What will the office be like then? How would AI respond to that stressed out Wall St trader?
I think the way AI is going, Ariel will become a "manager" of a team of Simulated Intelligences. ("Artificial Intelligence" is false and misleading.)
The people who will lose jobs are those graduating or recently graduated. In the US, the people with all that college debt (as well as the rich kids). Because if Ariel can delegate to things that only cost the company maybe $1000 / month per agent tops, why would they pay a salary?
But you will still need someone who knows what needs to be done to translate experience into instructions and check work. "AI" doesn't learn the way we do once the initial training phase is over. At most, it can collect external data to query later.
Also, large language models model language, unsurprisingly, not the part of the universe they are dealing with. They highlight Unkelus's adaption of G-d "blew a living nefesh" to become about giving him a "speaking ruach".
When a LLM puts out its first word, it is only based on the conversation so far. It doesn't have a plan as to where it's going. It just adds that word to the history and tries again. Nothing about that creates an understanding of the situation. Even with "AI"s to extend his reach, there is still a need for an Ariel to fill in that gap.
It is incredible how much of our intelligence is about speech. But not all of it. When we say "elephant" we can not only reason using the token "elephant" but we can also compare what is being discussed to our mental images of elephants.
This LLM thing is not a step toward Artificial General Intelligence, if such a thing is even within human grasp. It's a detour. Fool's gold.
Where my industry will start hurting is 5-10 years from now. There will be no one to promote to Sr Developer -- or in Ariel's case, Sr Tech Support -- because they didn't train any juniors up to the task.
I confess I trip over the word "refinement" here. For me it brings to mind British ladies sipping tea with their pinkie fingers extended. I wish you could explore the concept more.
I do understand that it is meant to be what is not coarse in behaviour, of course, but it still does not resonate, partly because in German (and I thought in Yiddish, too), "ehrlich" and "Ehrlichkeit" mean simply honest/honesty.
What the link is between honesty and refinement? I would call myself a very honest person, but no one has ever accused me of being refined.
ilse
Ilse, think of refinement as what a jeweller does. The two words are related in Hebrew. Within each of us, there is some priceless metal and there is also some dross. With skill, the jeweller separates the metal from the dross, and what remains is the refined gold or silver. A lot of our spiritual work does not involve acquiring new qualities but rather sifting out the aspects that are not serving our spiritual growth and ascent. That’s refinement as I think we are meant to understand it in this context.