xmas notes : concerns that recently passed my desk

Don't confuse social responsibility, with social validation. This is the difference between prophylaxis and consensual sex.

Don't confuse governance, with regulatory compliance. This is the difference between following poor leaders, and replacing them.

Don't confuse learning, with sophistry. This is the difference between physical models of the world, and large language models.

Don't confuse hard money, with legal tender. This is the difference between a gun, and a gun license.

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Before I got out of bed on Christmas morning ( or afternoon ), I wrote some reminders to my communities. One of those was about how the difference between learning and sophistry is like the difference between physical models, and LLMs. 
 
Later in the day, it occurred to me that maybe, many people are fascinated by LLMs because these people have been educated to think like LLMs, in order to keep them from true learning, and therefore from political economic effectiveness.

 Perhaps it is a paradigm of slavery.