[metanonsense]

It feels very humbling that here is one of the smartest humans on the planet asking questions, and the LLM keeps answering in this "Yes, it's really simple if you think about it" way, like a professor talking to a talented student.

[Frost1x]

I had a similar reaction with the language but also response times and language. It reminded me of a quote about Jon von Neumann from Edward Teller:

"Von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us."

[ProllyInfamous]

Von Neumann is an interesting historical character that nobody has ever heard of, e.g: for such an accomplished inventor, that so few minutes of video footage exist of him.

>I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us.

I can come pretty close to a humbler example of this, as the more-extroverted "bad twin," of an identical set: my own genetic equal is bored to tears interacting with 90% of daily interactions... we both started with good brains/IQ, then went to the same college; but while twin spent the next decades solving EE problems (and co-founding startups), I "kicked back" and smoked myself sillyretarded, electricianing, relying upon bullshit and sheer luck to get to where I [barely maintain] am.

Watching my twin deal with any normal-intelligence persons is such an unpredictable shitshow, but I pretty much always know he's "dealing with us toddlers" who mostly never grew up. His patience is limited but willing.

Glad he can get by among us mere mortals. I have other similarly-minded brothers, but only this one identical twin.

[dezsiszabi]

I definitely heard of him. The CS focused high school I went to in Hungary was named after him, his portrait on the walls, etc.

I think lots of people have heard of him. I agree, that he is probably not as famous as some of the other scientists of the era though.

[jason_s]

>Von Neumann is an interesting historical character that nobody has ever heard of

huh? He's pretty famous to anyone who has studied either the history of computing or of the development of the atomic bomb.

[satvikpendem]

What? Every CS grad learns of Von Neumman architecture and by extension of the man himself, at least I recall doing so, in much the same way as Turing and Church.

[mettamage]

Fascinating.

I mean that.

[calf]

I also think to do STEM well, one needs to find that inner child.

[dullcrisp]

I hate it when it picks that register. I think it stops if you contradict it more, which he’s not doing.

[spopejoy]

"Yes—and I actually think this is the right way to think about the construction."

Always the smarmy tone.

[armchairhacker]

A lot of “advanced” concepts are simple once you find the right way to frame them.

[elcritch]

Terrance Tao is GOATed.

That’s what I got from reading about a third of that exchange.

I mean that’s clear from reading anything about the dude, but to _experience_ it so to speak is different.

A true mark of brilliance is someone who makes something difficult seem easy by framing it just right.

In this instance ChaGPT is just expanding upon his prompts. Not to diminish, it’s amazing what it’s capable of.