this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.
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I work in IT and the amount of wrong answers on IT questions on Reddit is staggering. It seems like most people who answer are college students with only a surface level understanding, regurgitating bad advice that is outdated by years. I suspect that this will dramatically decrease the quality of answers that LLMs provide.
It's often the same for science, though there are actual experts who occasionally weigh in too.
You can usually detect those by the number of downvotes.
Not really. A lot of surface level correct, but deeply wrong answers, get upvotes on Reddit. It’s a lot of people seeing it and “oh, I knew that!” discourse.
Like when Reddit was all suddenly experts on CFD and Fluid Dynamics because they knew what a video of laminar flow was.
That's what I meant. I have seen actual M.D.s being downvoted even after providing proof of their profession. Just because they told people what they didn't want to hear.
I guess that's human nature.
I get you. Didn’t mean to come across as a “that guy”. So completely agree with you. The laminar flow Reddit shit infuriated me because I have my masters in Mech Eng and used to do a lot of CFD. People were talking out of their ass on “I know laminar flow!”
Well, see, it’s more than that. It’s not just a visual thing and…
“Ahhhh! I know laminar flow! Downvote the heretic!”
@Ragnarok314159
Sir… sir... SIR. I'll have you know that I, too, have seen laminar flow in the stream from a faucet. I’ll not have my qualifications dismissed so haughtily.
My least favorite is when people claim a deep understanding while only having a surface-level understanding. I don't mind a '70% correct' answer so long as it's not presented as '100% truth.'
“I got a B in physics 101, so now let me explain CERN level stuff. It’s not hard, bro.”
I was able to delete most of the engineering/science questions on Reddit I answered before they permabanned my account. I didn’t want my stuff used for their bullshit. Fuck Reddit.
I don’t mind answering another human and have other people read it, but training AI just seemed like a step too far.
Like what?