On: ChatGPT is a bullshit generator but it can still be amazingly useful

[titzer]

I for one rue this commandeering of the word "engineering". No, most activities involving stuff are not "engineering". Especially flailing weakly from a distance at an impenetrable tangle of statistical correlations. What a disservice we are doing ourselves.

[woah → titzer]

"Engineers" were originally just eccentric noblemen who liked to tinker around with engines. Kind of an awesome hobby if you think about it, combining clockwork and fire in a cool way. Hence the "eer" suffix implying that they are just really into engines, like a "Mouseketeer" is someone who is really into Mickey Mouse.

It didn't acquire its self-righteously gatekept meaning implying having passed some kind of technical examination to be allowed to draft plans for roads until much later.

[westurner → titzer]

A more logged approach with IDK all previous queries in a notebook and their output over time would be more scientific-like and thus closer to "Engineering": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering

> Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings.[1] The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas of applied mathematics, applied science, and types of application.

"How and why (NN, LLM, AI,) prompt outputs change over time; with different models, and with different training data" {@type=[schema:Review || schema:ScholarlyArticle], schema:dateModified=}

  Query:
  (@id, "prompt", XML:lang, w3c:prov-enance)

  QueryResult:
  (@id, query.id, datetime, api_service_uri, "prompt_ouput")

#aiart folks might know

[layer8 → titzer]

Google lists the following meanings for the verb “to engineer” (based on Oxford data):

1. design and build (a machine or structure). "the men who engineered the tunnel"

2. skilfully arrange for (something) to occur. "she engineered another meeting with him"

“Prompt engineering” is from meaning 2, not 1.

[vsareto → layer8]

I prefer "bespoke, artisanal promptcraft"

[titzer → layer8]

And yet, "Engineering" is not just "engineering" things.

Oxford:

1. "the activity of applying scientific knowledge to the design, building and control of machines, roads, bridges, electrical equipment, etc."

2. "the study of engineering as a subject"

[layer8 → titzer]

Well, Google also defines "engineering" as:

2. the action of working _artfully_ to bring something about. "if not for his shrewd engineering, the election would have been lost"

(https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3AEngineering)

Merriam-Webster has:

3 : calculated manipulation or direction (as of behavior)

giving the example of social engineering

(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/engineering)

Random House has:

3. skillful or artful contrivance; maneuvering

(https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/enginee...)

Webster's has:

The act of maneuvering or managing.

(https://www.yourdictionary.com/engineering)