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0 points154573452342y ago0 comments

I don't know how that connects in any way to what I and the commenter preceding me wrote.

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4 comments · 1 top-level

stavros2y ago· 3 in thread

You said that sentences aren't formed by probability from an existing corpus, as that method can't count backwards. GPT-4, a system based on such a method, can count backwards, thus disproving your claim.

woodruffw2y ago

I’m pretty sure the person you’re responding to is saying that counting is a formal operation with a formal definition, and that when GPT “counts” it isn’t doing that formal operation. The fact that it can semi-reliably emit ordered sequences isn’t counterevidence, for the same reason that memorizing the order of 0 to 100 isn’t evidence of an understanding of the inductive structure of counting.

jacquesm2y ago

How long a sequence of numbers (or how many sequences of different kinds of numbers) would it take to convince someone that it does do a formal operation?

Kids don't do a 'formal operation' when they count from 1 to 10, they just recite a list they've memorized. If they can do it from 1 to 1,000,000 you can be fairly sure it is no longer a memorized list.

15457345234OP2y ago

> thus disproving your claim

Is there an alternative conclusion which you could reach here?

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