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#[1]next [2]alternate
[3]Home [4]About [5]New: Concept album
[3]Home [4]About [5]Moonbound
From: Robin Sloan
To: the lab
@@ -11,43 +11,10 @@
An extremely close-up photograph of a snowflake, looking almost
architectural. [6]Snowflake, Wilson Bentley, ca. 1910
Please excuse the off-schedule transmission. The idea of a steady,
predictable publishing cadence is always so appealing … and then events
overtake me!
I think this lab newsletter will shift into a “whenever appropriate”
schedule for the rest of this year. In this news flash, you’ll find two
items: a time-sensitive link, and some thoughts on all that’s happening
with AI.
This is an archived edition of Robin’s lab newsletter. You can sign up
to receive future editions using the form at the bottom of the page.
A group of internet thinkers has proposed a [7]Summer of Protocols:
an 18-week program that will run from May 1 to Aug 31, 2023, and
aims to catalyze broad-based and wide-ranging exploration of the
rapidly evolving world of protocols.
[8]Applications are due in just a couple weeks, which is why I wanted
to circulate the link immediately. I don’t know a ton about the program
or its organizers, but I like the spirit captured on the website, and
I feel like it might be a generative opportunity for someone(s)
reading this.
Even for those of us who aren’t going to participate, the introductory
paper makes for a bracing, inspiring read: [9]The Unreasonable
Sufficiency of Protocols.
Now, on to the AI thoughts, which, as you’ll see, loop around to
connect to protocols again:
[10]Finding a question
Earlier this week, in [11]my main newsletter, I praised a new project
Earlier this week, in [7]my main newsletter, I praised a new project
from Matt Webb. Here, I want to come at it from a different angle.
Briefly: Matt has built the [12]Braggoscope, a fun and useful
Briefly: Matt has built the [8]Braggoscope, a fun and useful
application for exploring the archives of the beloved BBC radio show In
Our Time, hosted by the inimitable Melvyn Bragg.
@@ -55,16 +22,16 @@
structured data, no sense of “episode X is connected to episode Y
because of shared feature Z”.
As Matt explains [13]in his write-up, he fed the plain-language content
As Matt explains [9]in his write-up, he fed the plain-language content
of each episode page into the GPT-3 API, cleverly prompting it to
extract basic metadata, along with a few subtler properties — including
a Dewey Decimal number!?
(Explaining how and why a person might prompt a language model is
beyond the scope of this newsletter; you can [14]read up about it
beyond the scope of this newsletter; you can [10]read up about it
here.)
Here’s [15]a bit of Matt’s prompt:
Here’s [11]a bit of Matt’s prompt:
Extract the description and a list of guests from the supplied episode notes fro
m a podcast.
@@ -88,7 +55,7 @@ Valid JSON:
doesn’t always return valid JSON, and if you browse the Braggoscope,
you’ll find plenty of questionable filing choices.
And yet! What a technique. (Matt credits Noah Brier for [16]the
And yet! What a technique. (Matt credits Noah Brier for [12]the
insight.)
It fits into a pattern I’ve noticed: while the buzzy application of the
@@ -136,7 +103,7 @@ Valid JSON:
this stuff.
On one hand, I find critical deflation, of the kind you’ll hear from
Ted Chiang, Simon Willison, and Claire Leibowicz in [17]this recent
Ted Chiang, Simon Willison, and Claire Leibowicz in [13]this recent
episode of KQED Forum, appropriate and useful. The hype is so powerful
that any corrective is welcome.
@@ -151,7 +118,7 @@ Valid JSON:
AI at this moment feels like a mash-up of programming and biology. The
programming part is obvious; the biology part becomes apparent when you
see [18]AI engineers probing their own creations the way you might
see [14]AI engineers probing their own creations the way you might
probe a mouse in a lab.
The simple fact is: even at the highest levels of theory and practice,
@@ -178,7 +145,7 @@ Valid JSON:
The bot writes poems, sure, and song lyrics, and movie scenes.
The bot also produces ASCII art, and SVG code, and [19]PICO-8 programs,
The bot also produces ASCII art, and SVG code, and [15]PICO-8 programs,
though they don’t always run.
I find myself deeply ambivalent, in the original sense of: thinking
@@ -190,7 +157,7 @@ Valid JSON:
happening, and no one knows (the AI engineers least of all) what might
suddenly become possible.
As ever, [20]Jack Clark is my guide. He’s a journalist turned AI
As ever, [16]Jack Clark is my guide. He’s a journalist turned AI
practioner, involved in policy and planning at the highest levels,
first at OpenAI, now at Anthropic. And if he’s no longer a
disinterested observer, he remains deeply grounded and moral, which
@@ -202,7 +169,7 @@ Valid JSON:
I’ve found it helpful, these past few years, to frame my anxieties and
dissatisfactions as questions. For example, fed up with the state of
social media, [21]I asked: what do I want from the internet, anyway?
social media, [17]I asked: what do I want from the internet, anyway?
It turns out I had an answer to that question.
@@ -213,23 +180,22 @@ Valid JSON:
about any X into just about any Y with plain language instructions?
I don’t pose that question with any sense of wide-eyed expectation; a
reasonable answer might be, eh, nothing much. Not everything in the
world depends on the transformation of symbols. But I think that IS the
reasonable answer might be, nothing much. Not everything in the world
depends on the transformation of symbols. But I think that IS the
question, and I think it takes some legitimate work, some strenuous
imagination, to push yourself to believe it really will be “just about
any X” into “just about any Y”.
I help operate [22]a small olive oil company, and I have actually spent
a fair amount of time lately considering this question in the context
of our business. What might a GPT-alike do for us? What might an even
more capable system do?
I help operate [18]a small olive oil company, and I have spent a bit of
time lately considering this question in the context of our business.
What might a GPT-alike do for us? What might an even more capable
system do?
My answer, so far, is indeed: eh, nothing much! It’s a physical
business, after all, mainly concerned with moving and transforming
matter. The “obvious” application is customer support, which I handle
myself, and which I am unwilling to cede to a computer or, indeed,
anyone who isn’t me. The specific quality and character of our support
is important.
My answer, so far, is indeed: nothing much! It’s a physical business,
after all, mainly concerned with moving and transforming matter. The
“obvious” application is customer support, which I handle myself, and
which I am unwilling to cede to a computer or, indeed, anyone who isn’t
me. The specific quality and character of our support is important.
(As an aside: every customer support request I receive is a miniature
puzzle, usually requiring deduction across several different systems.
@@ -248,7 +214,7 @@ Valid JSON:
__________________________________________________________________
Jack Clark includes, in all of his AI newsletters, a piece of original
micro-fiction. One of them, [23]sent in December, has stayed with me.
micro-fiction. One of them, [19]sent in December, has stayed with me.
I’ll reproduce it here in full:
Reality Authentication
@@ -309,39 +275,35 @@ Valid JSON:
March 2023, Oakland
I'm [24]Robin Sloan, a fiction writer. You can sign up for my
I'm [20]Robin Sloan, a fiction writer. You can sign up for my
lab newsletter:
____________________ Subscribe
This website doesn’t collect any information about you or your reading.
It aspires to the speed and privacy of the printed page.
Don’t miss [25]the colophon. Hony soyt qui mal pence
Don’t miss [21]the colophon. Hony soyt qui mal pence
References
1. file:///confirm/main/subscribe/
1. https://www.robinsloan.com/confirm/main/subscribe/
2. https://www.robinsloan.com/feed.xml
3. file:///
4. file:///about
5. https://ooo.ghostbows.ooo/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
3. https://www.robinsloan.com/
4. https://www.robinsloan.com/about/
5. https://www.robinsloan.com/moonbound/
6. https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-snowflake-man-of-vermont?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
7. https://efdn.notion.site/Summer-of-Protocols-3d7983d922184c4eb72749e9cb60d076?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
8. https://efdn.notion.site/Application-5b71c238d6bd44cf9137946ef7767e53?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
9. https://efdn.notion.site/Pilot-Study-1bf3e3be6bf34a2eb8156ddf98d3fa67?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
10. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L12614-3163TMP.html#gpt
11. https://www.robinsloan.com/newsletters/ring-got-good/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
12. https://genmon.github.io/braggoscope/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
13. https://interconnected.org/home/2023/02/07/braggoscope?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
14. https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6654000-best-practices-for-prompt-engineering-with-openai-api?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
15. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35073824&utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
16. https://brxnd.substack.com/p/the-prompt-to-rule-all-prompts-brxnd?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
17. https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101892368/how-to-wrap-our-heads-around-these-new-shockingly-fluent-chatbots?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
18. https://www.anthropic.com/index/toy-models-of-superposition-2?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
19. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
20. https://importai.substack.com/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
21. file:///lab/specifying-spring-83/
22. https://fat.gold/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
23. https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=67bd06787e84d73db24fb0aa5&&id=a03ebcd500&utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
24. https://www.robinsloan.com/about?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
25. file:///colophon/
7. https://www.robinsloan.com/newsletters/ring-got-good/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
8. https://genmon.github.io/braggoscope/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
9. https://interconnected.org/home/2023/02/07/braggoscope?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
10. https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6654000-best-practices-for-prompt-engineering-with-openai-api?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
11. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35073824&utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
12. https://brxnd.substack.com/p/the-prompt-to-rule-all-prompts-brxnd?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
13. https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101892368/how-to-wrap-our-heads-around-these-new-shockingly-fluent-chatbots?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
14. https://www.anthropic.com/index/toy-models-of-superposition-2?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
15. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
16. https://importai.substack.com/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
17. https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/specifying-spring-83/
18. https://fat.gold/?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
19. https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=67bd06787e84d73db24fb0aa5&&id=a03ebcd500&utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
20. https://www.robinsloan.com/about?utm_source=Robin_Sloan_sent_me
21. https://www.robinsloan.com/colophon/