alt Hacker NewsLove the post. I think it comes from a good place.
> And I got to where I am thanks to people like me who wrote down and shared their knowledge openly and freely. I’ve benefited from open source. From books people have published online for free and courses they’ve given away. I’ve learned a great deal from people I chat with online, over forums, and at meetups where people give presentations to share their knowledge and work.
I can relate to that.
However, though I don't need an LLM, I have found them to be extremely useful in learning new stuff. I probably used an LLM to learn a dozen different new things, just today.
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I agree. We still need people like the author to write things down. But I do think that LLMs will be one of the important methods of consumption for this material. Many/most people will still just directly read what the author writes, but a large percentage of people will get it via an LLM -- and I think that's a good thing.
> I probably used an LLM to learn a dozen different new things, just today.
Did you learn 12 new things or did you find out about 12 new things? Or did you use it as a component in the learning process?
Everyone probably has a different interpretation of what it means to learn, or how to go about doing it effectively, but my hot take might be that there's not much learning going on if there's not much understanding going on, and understanding rarely comes quickly or without practice, and by extension, most reading or watching doesn't constitute learning unless it's a multifaceted activity of exploration and practice.
The ability to produce information that adds clarity to subject matter certainly can aid in learning and finding out what to learn or where to look further, but I can't learn guitar by reading about how to play guitar, nor can I learn German by exclusively listening to podcasts, and I think this us true for many things.
It has been generally agreed for years that different people learn best differently. I have found that I tend to learn very well reading books and taking notes (and, as applicable, doing projects) and not so great watching videos. I'd probably even prefer audio lectures rather than video content, if maximum learning was my goal.
I find LLM learning to be mixed. I can ask questions, seek clarification, and that helps me get to a specific answer quickly, or helps me to get past misconceptions quickly. But it seems to fall somewhere in between reading books and watching videos for me -- I still feel like I learn best through books, even if it takes longer. Specifically, it feels like actually being a little bit harder forces me to think deeper and/or retain more.
I do not wish for LLM learning to go away, but nor do I wish for it to replace books. I hope that many people continue to write in traditional formats.