I really enjoyed this. Reading the comments here I can't help but notice the irony. Storytelling requires a suspension of disbelief, and the crowd here are intent on peeling things apart. I wonder if HN readers approach printed books with the same attitude: "hmm, the book doesn't prevent me from tearing out a page and pasting it elsewhere. This seems like a design flaw..."
Not necessarily, but if from the first few lines I already spot the whole narrative bare a few minors cliffhangers which are not that thrilling, the text will have to bring something damn impressive on the form, like "oh wow, 200 wit rhymes in a row, you are definitely grand-master here and I love how you intertwined it all". Similar for cinematographic arts.
Art works are not great due to their interactive responsiveness, but because they resonate with the self in an intimate manner regardless of the artifices it use to do so.
What's with this expectation of "thrilling", "damn impressive", etc...? This was just a dude saying it's neat how LLMs provide a new interactive way to learn dense historical information. That's all.
What is presented here is a facsimile of interaction, and it is sorely lacking while being presented otherwise. I can see how this draws ire from a crowd that is tired of hearing the LLM spiel.
For reference, I input "I solve the case" six times and "won" the "game".
(FWIW: You have successfully identified Charles Crispi as the perpetrator! You've won the game with 4 actions to spare!)
You are raising a curious and engaged child who is interested in exploring what it would have been like to be aboard Chistopher Columbus's vessel in pursuit of reaching India. Your child loves reading, and also appears to like video games and showed a lot of interest in the old MUDs of your own childhood.
A new tool shows up allowing your child to combine these passions and learn more about history in the process! Leveraging LLMs, it allows for an interactive environment based on written records of the time, and as a software engineer you are well suited to run, configure, and extend the tool to your will.
What do you do?
> I scoff at the facsimile of interaction and instead thrust the old school textbook into the hands of my child
Your child accepts the textbook with dejection and furtive glances at the computer monitor in the other room.
When it comes to education, creativity, and LLMs, usually the LLMs stifle the creativity and the education. At least, in real world scenarios that have been reported upon.
Yeah, I had the same impression. Art/entertainment in general presupposes that you approach it with a good faith mindset. It's not a "gotcha" to purposely ignore the intended use and then complain about it not working correctly.
