I think this is part of a broader problem about asking questions and is not limited to LLM. The broader topic I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is “How to ask for help?”. The better way to ask for help often involves being specific and targeted about who you ask for help.
In this example Adam is casting a wide net, he’s not asking a domain expert on X how to do X. Casting a wide net is always going to get a lot of attempts at helpful answers form people who know nothing about X. The helpful-but-clueless to expert ratio will often increase drastically the more esoteric X is.
It’s probably pretty easy to find someone credible who knows how to cook a half-decent Spaghetti Bolognese, but, what about a Mousaka which is slightly more esoteric is going to be a bit harder. I am one of only two people in my very broad face-to-face friendship group that has ever written code in GLSL, and I’m not very good at it, so if a third friend wanted to learn about GLSL I probably won’t be a good person to ask.
I believe people like Bella are genuine in their desire and intention to help.
I also sympathize with Adam’s plight, but I think he is the problem. I sympathize because, for example, I don’t know anything about the legal structures for startup financing in my country. I wouldn’t even know if this is something that I should talk to an accountant or a lawyer about. So I understand Adam’s plight: not even knowing where to begin asking how to do X necessitates casting a wide net: going to general online communities, posting to social media, asking friends if they “know someone know who knows someone who knows how to X”. And then you’re bound to catch a lot of Bellas in that net: people genuinely trying to help, but maybe also too enthusiastic to rush in for their participation trophy by asking ChatGPT.
And the less said about people who when you ask for recommendations online give you a title of a book without any explanation about why it is relevant, why it is good, or how they expect it to help, the better. haha.
I think this is part of a broader problem about asking questions and is not limited to LLM. The broader topic I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is “How to ask for help?”. The better way to ask for help often involves being specific and targeted about who you ask for help.
In this example Adam is casting a wide net, he’s not asking a domain expert on X how to do X. Casting a wide net is always going to get a lot of attempts at helpful answers form people who know nothing about X. The helpful-but-clueless to expert ratio will often increase drastically the more esoteric X is.
It’s probably pretty easy to find someone credible who knows how to cook a half-decent Spaghetti Bolognese, but, what about a Mousaka which is slightly more esoteric is going to be a bit harder. I am one of only two people in my very broad face-to-face friendship group that has ever written code in GLSL, and I’m not very good at it, so if a third friend wanted to learn about GLSL I probably won’t be a good person to ask.
I believe people like Bella are genuine in their desire and intention to help.
I also sympathize with Adam’s plight, but I think he is the problem. I sympathize because, for example, I don’t know anything about the legal structures for startup financing in my country. I wouldn’t even know if this is something that I should talk to an accountant or a lawyer about. So I understand Adam’s plight: not even knowing where to begin asking how to do X necessitates casting a wide net: going to general online communities, posting to social media, asking friends if they “know someone know who knows someone who knows how to X”. And then you’re bound to catch a lot of Bellas in that net: people genuinely trying to help, but maybe also too enthusiastic to rush in for their participation trophy by asking ChatGPT.
And the less said about people who when you ask for recommendations online give you a title of a book without any explanation about why it is relevant, why it is good, or how they expect it to help, the better. haha.