This part really caught my attention (along with the rest of the preceding paragraph):
> Our inability to see opportunities and fulfillment in life as it is, leads to the inevitable conclusion that life is never enough, and we would always rather be doing something else.
I agree with the article completely, as it effectively names an uneasy feeling of hesitation I’ve had all along with how I use LLMs. I have found them tremendously valuable as sounding boards when I’m going in circles in my own well-worn cognitive (and sometimes even emotional) ruts. I have also found them valuable as research assistants, and I feel grateful that they arrived right around the time that search engines began to feel all but useless. I haven’t yet found them valuable in writing on my behalf, whether it’s prose or code.
During my formal education, I was very much a math and science person. I enjoyed those subjects. They came easily to me, which I also enjoyed. I did two years of liberal arts in undergrad, and they kicked my butt academically in a way that I didn’t realize was possible. I did not enjoy having to learn how to think and articulate those thoughts in seminars and essays. I did not enjoy the vulnerability of sharing myself that way, or of receiving feedback. If LLMs had existed, I’m certain I would have leaned hard on them to get some relief from the constant feeling of struggle and inadequacy. But then I wouldn’t have learned how to think or how to articulate myself, and my life and career would have been significantly less meaningful, interesting, and satisfying.
As the quotes go, before you judge others make sure your affairs are in order. I’m not judging the young that are now trying to make sense of this hectic and overwhelming world.
But… I do agree with you, that had these things been there, I/we’d all be leaning on them. It’s the manageable hardship of life that makes it worth it, we better ourselves through the pain. My 18-year old self would complain, as would any me up to mid-30s. I’d have to insist to him that things will get better, but that he must work on what needs improving. Can’t just ask a language model for validation.
Thanks for sharing. I’m a musician and programmer, so I’m squarely in what I’d expect is your target audience. Since you’re posting an early version for feedback, here are some of my broadest initial thoughts.
From your README’s philosophy section: “You describe what you want to feel — ÆTHRA handles how it sounds.” But the rest of the documentation doesn’t yet feel aligned to that vision. The closest you get to that is when you describe your example chord progression as melancholic, but you as the composer already happened to know that this particular progression provides the feeling you have in mind.
I love the idea of a high level way to programmatically or idiomatically describe how music should feel, especially how the composition should evolve over time (perhaps even in surprising ways that are beyond current tools). I hope as you progress that you’re able to find innovative ways to build toward that vision.
The current feature set feels like it would be considerably more convenient in a GUI environment. Again, I hope that as you continue to build, it becomes more obvious why this is a language and not a visual synthesis/composition tool.
A little audio output demo would go a very long way in potentially getting me interested in playing around with this.
Yes! I auditioned dozens of fonts for the UI of https://figure.game and chose Lexend for its legibility, even at small sizes. It’s also got lots of understated charm and character (no pun intended) in my opinion. After reading about the project, I was very impressed with the reading fluency improvements reported, especially considering that (to me) it just looks like a very classy contemporary geometric sans.
I think this is a excellent question that I haven't been asked before. I don't have a great answer, as I don't consider myself to be particularly great at solving these puzzles. Some of my friends are consistently better (fewer tries, faster) than I am. I've noticed that I find important patterns and key moves more quickly now after playing so many of them, but sometimes I still get stumped. Often I realize that I make an assumption about a large group needing to be cleared at once, but the solution hinges on intentionally breaking up the large group to make something else happen a move or two later. I think it's really fun to learn these types of things by experience, so my main suggestion—if you find it fun and not too frustrating—is to approach each puzzle with an open mind and don't get too attached to any single moves that you believe to be correct. Finally, you've probably noticed that you're often left with the same one or two tiles when you run out of moves. Try to think ahead and see if there are ways to connect that tile to another one earlier. Good luck!
It's different every day, usually between 8 and 11 moves. It depends on the minimum number of moves required to clear the tiles in the given arrangement.
Very cool, thanks for sharing. And thanks for pointing out the keyboard thing. I was about to reply with "but you can!" but when I went to confirm I realized that while you can navigate to each tile with the keyboard you can't actually clear them. I'll fix that.
I endorse getting away from as much news as possible. I made that choice after the 2016 US elections, and it has been a big, sustained improvement in my quality of life. I've found that if something is important, I'll hear about it from friends, family, or co-workers. Hearing about important things from people I trust is way better than hearing about them from news outlets trying their hardest to keep me hooked. Sometimes I get the bewildered, mouth-agape reaction of "you haven't heard of this???" but it took a surprisingly short amount of time to feel no embarrassment about being out of the loop and simply responding with, "nope! please tell me all about it."
And, it is amazing just how much you do not miss it. Once the stream of news is gone - you wonder why you ever fell into it in the first place.
I am in the same boat with other people bringing the important news. Some times it might actually be relevant.
News nowadays reminds me of the Serenity's prayer.
--
Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from the other.
A friend of mine is very stressed about the current geopolitical situation, and follows the latest developments every few hours. I'm roughly aware of it. Our impact on the situation is exactly the same.
From the draft: I followed 20 years of news about Afghanistan, and all I got out of it was talking points. No facts, no nuance, just pre-chewed talking points from people one lesson ahead of the class. I recently went on a deep dive about Afghanistan, and boy was I misinformed.
Remember the early days of covid? How much of the information was accurate and useful? How much of it was just speculation or filler content? Would you be in a different place if you just let the most important information surface to you?
I did the same and share your conclusions. I have family members who literally get panic attacks over news of events they cannot control— and they keep right on consuming it.
Someone once said that if you want to kick the newspaper habit, just read last month’s newspapers. You’ll quickly realize how useless and / or misinformed the content is.
Thanks for reporting. That's a known bug that I'll try to fix soon. Firefox on Android is doing something weird with the Web Share API [1]. In a nutshell, the API has two methods. The first is `canShare`, which lets you ask the browser if it can share the data you're about to give it. The second is `share`, which does the sharing. I only attempt to `share` if the browser gives me the green light via `canShare`. So basically Firefox on Android is saying, "yup this object looks good" and then "nope won't share it." If it just told me no in the first `canShare` check, it would gracefully fall back to just going straight to your clipboard, which is what happens in Firefox desktop browsers.
For now, you can use the little "Copy" button in the corner of the results text bubble area. That one just goes straight to the clipboard reliably.
> Our inability to see opportunities and fulfillment in life as it is, leads to the inevitable conclusion that life is never enough, and we would always rather be doing something else.
I agree with the article completely, as it effectively names an uneasy feeling of hesitation I’ve had all along with how I use LLMs. I have found them tremendously valuable as sounding boards when I’m going in circles in my own well-worn cognitive (and sometimes even emotional) ruts. I have also found them valuable as research assistants, and I feel grateful that they arrived right around the time that search engines began to feel all but useless. I haven’t yet found them valuable in writing on my behalf, whether it’s prose or code.
During my formal education, I was very much a math and science person. I enjoyed those subjects. They came easily to me, which I also enjoyed. I did two years of liberal arts in undergrad, and they kicked my butt academically in a way that I didn’t realize was possible. I did not enjoy having to learn how to think and articulate those thoughts in seminars and essays. I did not enjoy the vulnerability of sharing myself that way, or of receiving feedback. If LLMs had existed, I’m certain I would have leaned hard on them to get some relief from the constant feeling of struggle and inadequacy. But then I wouldn’t have learned how to think or how to articulate myself, and my life and career would have been significantly less meaningful, interesting, and satisfying.