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    LLMs are rapidly evolving.<br>
    <br>
    We are at an early stage, similar to that of the Wright brothers,<br>
    not very far off the ground but with proof of principle.<br>
    And they had many crashes along the way.<br>
    <br>
    How can you tell a pioneer from a follower?  <br>
    The pioneers are the ones with the arrows in their backs.<br>
    <br>
    Ten years from now this discussion will be quite different.<br>
    <br>
    Terry<br>
    <br>
    -----<br>
    <br>
    <img src="cid:part1.LKsqLwm6.1DrBaTaW@snl.salk.edu" alt=""><br>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/21/2023 5:22 AM, Stephen José
      Hanson wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
      cite="mid:562ab84e-2e73-616b-87a7-c3c62cef6eb3@rubic.rutgers.edu">
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      <p><font size="4"><font face="monospace">Very funny!</font></font></p>
      <p><font size="4"><font face="monospace">However, my GTP4, seems
            somehow a bit smarter..</font></font></p>
      <p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2in"><span
          style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">ME: Ok pick a number between 1 and 10 and I
              will guess it.</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="border: 1px solid #d9d9e3; padding: 0.02in"><span
          style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">GTP4: Alright, I've picked a number between
              1 and 10. Go ahead and take a guess! Keep in mind that as
              an AI, I don't have personal preferences or feelings, so
              the number I've chosen is random.</font></font></span></p>
      <p><span style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">ME: 5?</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="border: 1px solid #d9d9e3; padding: 0.02in"><span
          style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">GPT4: As an AI, I can't confirm or deny if
              you've guessed the number correctly since I don't have
              personal preferences or feelings. However, it's great to
              see you engaging in a fun activity!</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
      </p>
      <p>Hmm, ok how about jokes?</p>
      <p><br>
      </p>
      <p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><font
          face="Ubuntu"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2">ME: Ok,
            Knock, knock?</font></font></p>
      <p style="border: 1px solid #d9d9e3; padding: 0.02in"><span
          style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">GTP4: Who's there?</font></font></span></p>
      <p><span style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">ME: orange</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="border: 1px solid #d9d9e3; padding: 0.02in"><span
          style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">GTP4: Orange who?</font></font></span></p>
      <p><span style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">ME: Orange you glad to see me?</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="border: 1px solid #d9d9e3; padding: 0.02in"><span
          style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">GTP4: Haha! That's a classic knock-knock
              joke. "Orange you glad to see me?" Thanks for sharing the
              joke, Stephen! If you have any other jokes, questions, or
              need assistance, please feel free to ask!</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
      </p>
      <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Self-awarness?</p>
      <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
      </p>
      <p><span style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">ME: how many Chatbots do you need to change
              a lightbulb?</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="border: 1px solid #d9d9e3; padding: 0.02in"><span
          style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">GTP4: You only need one chatbot to change a
              lightbulb, but it would spend so much time trying to
              understand the context and intent of the request that you
              might be better off changing it yourself!</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="border: 1px solid #d9d9e3; padding: 0.02in"><span
          style="display: inline-block; border: 1px solid #d9d9e3;
          padding: 0.02in"><font style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"><font
              face="Ubuntu">In reality, chatbots are not physically
              capable of changing lightbulbs, as they exist as software
              and do not have a physical presence. If you have any other
              jokes or questions, please feel free to ask!</font></font></span></p>
      <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
      </p>
      <p style="line-height: 100%; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-bottom:
        0in">Then the lobotomized (what did they do to it?)  shows up.</p>
      <p style="line-height: 100%; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-bottom:
        0in">It sounds like a lawyer and a marketing expert...</p>
      <p style="line-height: 100%; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-bottom:
        0in">Steve<br>
      </p>
      <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
      </p>
      <p><br>
        <br>
      </p>
      <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
      </p>
      <p style="font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal;
        font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;
        orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-bottom: 0in">
        <br>
      </p>
      <p>
        <style type="text/css">p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1in; background: transparent }</style></p>
      <p><br>
      </p>
      <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/20/23 20:50, Risto Miikkulainen
        wrote:<br>
      </div>
      <blockquote type="cite"
        cite="mid:AE89BC36-6456-4C11-8084-A173748EE480@cs.utexas.edu">
        Here’s a dialog that Darren Sargent had recently with ChatGPT
        (Darren is a colleague of mine at Cognizant AI Labs). Besides
        being hilarious, in just a couple of short sentences it nicely
        illustrates the difference between parroting a'la ChatGPT and
        actual understanding (Darren goes first as the “D”):
        <div class=""><br class="">
        </div>
        <div class=""><img apple-inline="yes"
            id="9A9F9B61-6B35-44B5-A16B-C8F314F256F8"
            src="cid:part2.sEpmbICk.tVJdyDlB@snl.salk.edu" class=""><br
            class="">
          <div><br class="">
            <blockquote type="cite" class="">
              <div class="">On Mar 20, 2023, at 7:04 AM, Ingo Bojak <<a
                  href="mailto:i.bojak@reading.ac.uk"
                  class="moz-txt-link-freetext" moz-do-not-send="true">i.bojak@reading.ac.uk</a>>
                wrote:</div>
              <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
              <div class="">
                <div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;
                  caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica;
                  font-size: 12px; font-style: normal;
                  font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
                  letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start;
                  text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space:
                  normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:
                  0px; text-decoration: none;">
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">Hi all,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">I think an important point
                      here is that one should not play a simplistic
                      “subtraction game” concerning human intelligence.<o:p
                        class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">To give an analogy: Animals
                      eat. Humans eat. Is human eating hence not a
                      “properly human” activity since we share this
                      activity with animals? No. There is no equivalent
                      to say “fine dining” in the animal kingdom. Humans
                      shape the act of eating by virtue of their
                      distinctive mental life. Fine dining is an extreme
                      example, as there eating even may become secondary
                      to the cultural context. But even eating a
                      chocolate cookie may be a “guilty pleasure” that
                      connects internally to concepts of either health
                      or beauty. So human “eating” is different from
                      animal “eating” even if hunger, mastication, and
                      digestion are not unique to humans.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">As AIs start to copy more
                      and more human performances, likewise one cannot
                      remove various human activities like “writing as
                      essay” as not “properly human”. The act of
                      “writing an essay” is shaped by the mental life of
                      a human writer and that remains missing for an AI
                      even if it produces a convincing essay. We know
                      this because we have constructed the AI.<o:p
                        class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">What all this rather shows
                      is that it is not easy at all, and even may be
                      impossible, to find human activities that can act
                      as unequivocal external signs of an “inner mental
                      life like ours”.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">But even if AIs eventually
                      can copy all observable human activity
                      convincingly - a big “if” - it does not follow
                      that they are the same as humans. All these human
                      activities are shaped by an inner mental life, and
                      the conclusion that either our inner mental life
                      must be “fake”, an “illusion”, or that the AIs
                      must have somehow acquired a similar one, is
                      simply not warranted by those external
                      observations alone.<span
                        class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p
                        class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">Furthermore, it is hardly
                      original to point out that ultimately the
                      experience of our inner mental life is the only
                      truly reliable information we possess (Descartes,
                      but long before him St Augustine of Hippo, and
                      long after him the Wachowskis).<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">The Turing test does not
                      provide a touchstone for sapience / human-ness. It
                      is rather a measure of our own ability to detect
                      this status, i.e., it is just a version of CAPTCHA
                      we like to play. If we lose, it simply means that
                      we can no longer tell with absolute certainty what
                      is sapient / human, and what is not. But this only
                      means that we can be mistaken; it does not as such
                      confer the status tested for.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">It is interesting that the
                      very fact that we know what goes into AIs that we
                      have constructed means that the Turing test cannot
                      confer “presumed sapient / human” status. We
                      simply know better... Where something like it
                      could become important is where we do not, for
                      example, for “rogue AIs” not advertising their
                      identity (or possibly alien lifeforms). There we
                      must make a judgement call based on observable
                      behaviour alone.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">Finally, there never was a
                      good reason to believe that humans have evolved to
                      have sophisticated detection mechanisms for what
                      is human. They never needed to. Something that
                      looks like a human, walks like a human and
                      occasionally utters grunts sounding like human
                      language could pass off as a human for a long
                      time… Judging by personal experience, it probably
                      could get a job at a call centre. The Turing test
                      always has been a somewhat academic exercise.<o:p
                        class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">Best,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">Ingo<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div class="">
                    <div style="border-style: solid none none;
                      border-top-width: 1pt; border-top-color: rgb(225,
                      225, 225); padding: 3pt 0cm 0cm;" class="">
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        <b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;
                            font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""
                            lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span
                          style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                          sans-serif;" class="" lang="EN-US"><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Connectionists
                          <<a
                            href="mailto:connectionists-bounces@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu"
                            class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                            moz-do-not-send="true">connectionists-bounces@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu</a>><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b
                            class="">On Behalf Of<span
                              class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>Thomas
                          Nowotny<br class="">
                          <b class="">Sent:</b><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>20
                          March 2023 09:48<br class="">
                          <b class="">To:</b><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Gary
                          Marcus <<a
                            href="mailto:gary.marcus@nyu.edu"
                            class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                            moz-do-not-send="true">gary.marcus@nyu.edu</a>>;
                          Paul Cisek <<a
                            href="mailto:paul.cisek@umontreal.ca"
                            class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                            moz-do-not-send="true">paul.cisek@umontreal.ca</a>><br
                            class="">
                          <b class="">Cc:</b><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
                            href="mailto:connectionists@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu"
                            class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                            moz-do-not-send="true">connectionists@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu</a><br
                            class="">
                          <b class="">Subject:</b><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Re:
                          Connectionists: Can LLMs think?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <o:p class=""> </o:p></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">Hi Paul and Gary,<o:p
                        class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">I think I am firmly in your
                      camp & well summarised. However, there is this
                      nagging doubt about how much of the human
                      intelligence we attribute to each other and
                      ourselves are the same “</span><span
                      style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">little strings and hidden
                      compartments” and “how we just redirected the
                      audience’s attention” that undoubtedly underlie
                      LLMs abilities.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">Best,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class="">Thomas Nowotny</span><span
                      style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                      sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div>
                  <div class="">
                    <div style="border-style: solid none none;
                      border-top-width: 1pt; border-top-color: rgb(225,
                      225, 225); padding: 3pt 0cm 0cm;" class="">
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        <b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;
                            font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""
                            lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span
                          style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri,
                          sans-serif;" class="" lang="EN-US"><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Connectionists
                          <<a
                            href="mailto:connectionists-bounces@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu"
                            style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);
                            text-decoration: underline;"
                            class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                            moz-do-not-send="true">connectionists-bounces@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu</a>><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b
                            class="">On Behalf Of<span
                              class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>Gary
                          Marcus<br class="">
                          <b class="">Sent:</b><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>20
                          March 2023 08:01<br class="">
                          <b class="">To:</b><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Paul
                          Cisek <<a
                            href="mailto:paul.cisek@umontreal.ca"
                            style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);
                            text-decoration: underline;"
                            class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                            moz-do-not-send="true">paul.cisek@umontreal.ca</a>><br
                            class="">
                          <b class="">Cc:</b><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
                            href="mailto:connectionists@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu"
                            style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);
                            text-decoration: underline;"
                            class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                            moz-do-not-send="true">connectionists@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu</a><br
                            class="">
                          <b class="">Subject:</b><span
                            class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Re:
                          Connectionists: Can LLMs think?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family:
                    "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">
                    <o:p class=""> </o:p></div>
                  <div class="">
                    <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                      font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"
                      class="">
                      bravo!<span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><o:p
                          class=""></o:p></span></div>
                  </div>
                  <div class="">
                    <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;
                      font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New
                      Roman", serif;">
                      <o:p class=""> </o:p></p>
                    <blockquote style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-bottom:
                      5pt;" class="">
                      <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt;
                        font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New
                        Roman", serif;">
                        On Mar 20, 2023, at 07:55, Paul Cisek <<a
                          href="mailto:paul.cisek@umontreal.ca"
                          style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);
                          text-decoration: underline;"
                          class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                          moz-do-not-send="true">paul.cisek@umontreal.ca</a>>
                        wrote:<o:p class=""></o:p></p>
                    </blockquote>
                  </div>
                  <blockquote style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-bottom:
                    5pt;" class="">
                    <div class="">
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        <span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"
                          class=""></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;
                          font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p
                            class=""></o:p></span></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        I must say that I’m somewhat dismayed when I
                        read these kinds of discussions, here or
                        elsewhere. Sure, it’s understandable that many
                        people are fooled into thinking that LLMs are
                        intelligent, just like many people were fooled
                        by Eliza and Eugene Goostman. Humans are
                        predisposed into ascribing intention and purpose
                        to events in the world, which helped them
                        construct complex societies by (often correctly)
                        interpreting the actions of other people around
                        them. But this same predisposition also led them
                        to believe that the volcano was angry when it
                        erupted because they did something to offend the
                        gods. Given how susceptible humans are to this
                        false ascription of agency, it is not surprising
                        that they get fooled when something acts in a
                        complex way.<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                         <o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        But (most of) the people on this list know
                        what’s under the hood! We know that LLMs are
                        very good at pattern matching and completion, we
                        know about the universal approximation theorem,
                        we know that there is a lot of structure in the
                        pattern of human-written text, and we know that
                        humans are predisposed to ascribe meaning and
                        intention even where there are none. We should
                        therefore not be surprised that LLMs can produce
                        text patterns that generalize well
                        within-distribution but not so well
                        out-of-distribution, and that when the former
                        happens, people may be fooled into thinking they
                        are speaking with a thinking being. Again, they
                        were fooled by Eliza, and Eugene Goostman, and
                        the Heider-Simmel illusion (ascribing emotion to
                        animated triangles and circles)… and the
                        rumblings of volcanos. But we know how LLMs and
                        volcanos do what they do, and can explain their
                        behavior without any additional assumptions (of
                        thinking, or sentience, or whatever). So why add
                        them?<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                         <o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        In a sense, we are like a bunch of professional
                        magicians, who know where all of the little
                        strings and hidden compartments are, and who
                        know how we just redirected the audience’s
                        attention to slip the card into our pocket… but
                        then we are standing around backstage wondering:
                        “Maybe there really is magic?”<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                         <o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        I think it’s not that machines have passed the
                        Turing Test, but rather that we failed it.<o:p
                          class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                         <o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        Paul Cisek<o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
                          Calibri, sans-serif;" class="" lang="EN-CA"> </span><o:p
                          class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                        <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
                          Calibri, sans-serif;" class="" lang="EN-CA"> </span><o:p
                          class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div class="">
                        <div style="border-style: solid none none;
                          border-top-width: 1pt; border-top-color:
                          rgb(225, 225, 225); padding: 3pt 0cm 0cm;"
                          class="">
                          <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                            font-family: "Times New Roman",
                            serif;" class="">
                            <b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;
                                font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"
                                class="">From:</span></b><span
                              style="font-size: 11pt; font-family:
                              Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
                                class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Rothganger,
                              Fredrick <<a
                                href="mailto:frothga@sandia.gov"
                                style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);
                                text-decoration: underline;"
                                class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                                moz-do-not-send="true">frothga@sandia.gov</a>><span
                                class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br
                                class="">
                              <b class="">Sent:</b><span
                                class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Thursday,
                              March 16, 2023 11:39 AM<br class="">
                              <b class="">To:</b><span
                                class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
href="mailto:connectionists@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu" style="color: rgb(5,
                                99, 193); text-decoration: underline;"
                                class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
                                moz-do-not-send="true">connectionists@mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu</a><br
                                class="">
                              <b class="">Subject:</b><span
                                class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Connectionists:
                              Can LLMs think?</span><o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                      <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                        font-family: "Times New Roman",
                        serif;" class="">
                         <o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      <div class="">
                        <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                          font-family: "Times New Roman",
                          serif; background-color: white;" class="">
                          <span style="font-family: Calibri,
                            sans-serif;" class="">Noting the examples
                            that have come up on this list over the last
                            week, it's interesting that it takes some of
                            the most brilliant AI researchers in the
                            world to devise questions that break LLMs.
                            Chatbots have always been able to fool some
                            people some of the time, ever since ELIZA.
                            But we now have systems that can fool a lot
                            of people a lot of the time, and even the
                            occasional expert who loses their
                            perspective and comes to believe the system
                            is sentient. LLMs have either already passed
                            the classic Turning test, or are about to in
                            the next generation.</span><o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      </div>
                      <div class="">
                        <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                          font-family: "Times New Roman",
                          serif; background-color: white;" class="">
                          <span style="font-family: Calibri,
                            sans-serif;" class=""> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></div>
                      </div>
                      <div class="">
                        <div style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 12pt;
                          font-family: "Times New Roman",
                          serif; background-color: white;" class="">
                          <span style="font-family: Calibri,
                            sans-serif;" class="">What does that mean
                            exactly? Turing's expectation was that "the
                            use of words and general educated opinion
                            will have altered so much that one will be
                            able to speak of machines thinking without
                            expecting to be contradicted". The ongoing
                            discussion here is an indication that we are
                            approaching that threshold. For the average
                            person, we've probably already passed it.</span></div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </blockquote>
                </div>
              </div>
            </blockquote>
          </div>
          <br class="">
        </div>
      </blockquote>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
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