The Historical Parallel: Are Large Language Models a 400-Year-Old Confidence Trick?
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Growtika
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Summary
The article argues that Large Language Models (LLMs) represent a 400-year-long confidence trick, tracing the history of mechanical calculation from 17th century devices to modern AI. It suggests that the promise of offloading mental work to machines has been an ongoing deception, with LLMs being the latest iteration of this pattern. The piece draws parallels between historical mechanical calculators and contemporary AI systems, questioning whether they truly deliver on their promises of reducing cognitive burden or represent a form of technological deception.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledIn 1623 the German Wilhelm Schickard produced the first known designs for a mechanical calculator.
Twenty years later Blaise Pascal produced a machine of an improved design, aiming to help with the large amount of tedious arithmetic required in his role as a tax collector.
The interest in mechanical calculation showed no sign of reducing in the subsequent centuries, as generations of people worldwide followed in Pascal and Wilhelm's footsteps, subscribing to their view that offloading mental energy to a machine would be a relief.
A confidence scam can be broken down into the following three s
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