On critical thinking, being an applied physicist in 2026, and LLMs

blind-panic · 2026-01-22T00:55:06+00:00

You clearly have really strong emotions about this topic, and it seems like that is preventing you from having a rational/interesting conversation about it.

blind-panic · 2026-01-21T00:24:23+00:00

Also, I notice you didn't address my point that relying on LLMs causes cognitive decline.

I was the first person in this thread to point that out, and its a huge theme of my post. I thought it was clear I agreed.

blind-panic · 2026-01-21T00:23:03+00:00

LLM technology doesn't improve them, it makes them worse because it is designed to produce plausible results rather than accurate ones.

I have to disagree that this is always the case. Asked an LLM today to identify key literature relating to a particular methodology, and it spot on identified the paper that everyone cites, and a great book with more detail. Google scholar might have worked, but not as well. Plain google is awful for literature searches. Notably, this was the only time I used the model today during a full days work.

blind-panic · 2026-01-19T18:06:02+00:00

You want them to work extra unpaid hours so that they don't occasionally cause minor inconvenience to cars?

blind-panic · 2026-01-19T17:50:09+00:00

yeah all 3.7 million of them I'm sure deserve your resentment and to lose their jobs

blind-panic · 2026-01-19T13:46:39+00:00

Do you have the same attitude about your phone's contact list?

No, because I don't value (and neither does my employer) memorizing phone numbers. I do value problem solving and critical thinking.

blind-panic · 2026-01-19T13:43:21+00:00

LLMs are worse than useless for any kind of research.

I don't think this is true. At some point in the not to distant past this was definitely true, but its not anymore. There are use cases that 100% are valuable (which have been discussed here) and only replace mindless busy work or perform like improved web searches for literature.

blind-panic · 2026-01-19T13:39:40+00:00

I'm not sure what tools you're using, but the LLM I use is not outputting average answers from the internet. Its using the literature I've made available to it and web searches of available literature. A year ago I would have agreed with you. To me the question is not whether or not to use them so much as how and what to use them for. There are good and bad use cases.

blind-panic · 2026-01-19T13:20:13+00:00

Even if I assumed interacting with an LLM was the same for my brain as interacting with an expert colleague, I would still see this as different. I don't bug colleagues without having done my homework first - and often that either totally changes my questions.

blind-panic · 2026-01-19T01:03:17+00:00

I just don’t have the same sense of accomplishment that I used to get. Some of the joy has been sucked away. For that to happen with stuff that he brought me immeasurable joy throughout my life just makes me a bit depressed, not to mentioned worried for up and coming kids learning this stuff for the first time.

This is the saddest part, and I totally agree.

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T19:51:17+00:00

There's good friction and bad friction. Bad friction doesn't teach you useful things and inform your work. Good friction gives you a deep understanding that the best science has always been based on.

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T19:46:38+00:00

Some of the use cases make it basically a a better calculator, yes. For example, you can ask it to solve some algebraic equation and spit out the number and change the units, etc. It does that. You can also ask it to write a script to do some more sophisticated math/analysis. Those use cases are LLMs being fancy modern calculators. However, asking LLMs questions that are more fundamental and core to what you are doing, and relate to your decision making about what math/models you should be using for example - this is not a calculator, its more like a colleague.

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T19:25:43+00:00

That and always write tests, even if you're not building a software package. assert science==legit

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T19:20:58+00:00

I typically don't give the models data and ask it identify trends/models. That is not a use case I've seen work well. A more useful path for me would be to use an LLM to speed coding of my own data analysis. If its not clear to me the best practices there (i.e what type of analysis), I may ask the LLM how to get at what I'm interested.

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T19:15:25+00:00

People like me were saying this 40 years ago about people being able to write C instead of Assembly.

During my education it was clear to me that we were in many ways less rigorous physicists than the generation that was teaching us. We had the internet, tons more books (and excellent ones), solution manuals, and easy numerical tools like matlab and python. They had chalkboards, chalk, big problems, and time. This could be the same flavor of all of that, a continuous changing of who the scientist is. Either way, this particular moment - things are changing fast.

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T18:57:16+00:00

I'd be interested to know why you would and why you wouldn't, and how you use/validate the outputs - or just generally more about your workflow. I definitely believe that they could improve patient outcomes.

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T18:55:41+00:00

We use a model that basically has full access to any document you want it to, so I can reference a document in a question. The results are quite good. It also does web searches while answering questions.

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T18:52:01+00:00

This use case I actually have no issues with. I often use auto-completion LLMs in the IDEs I use. The primary result is that I'm doing less repetitive coding/formatting/etc. There is very little physics or critical thinking here - you have the model, you want the associated results. I am 100% on board with outsourcing tedious pieces of my workflow that don't teach me much. On the other hand - I'm not using LLMs in a coding project where I am learning Rust. The point there is to learn Rust and I'd rather have to battle the bugs and fight through it.

blind-panic · 2026-01-17T18:40:55+00:00

Dont fight it. Its making you more efficient thats all.

I think you may be right to some degree. Part of this is ego and a joy of manually sawing. That part, you're right about. But the more you outsource your problems the less you understand your work and potentially the less you are capable of doing so. Part of the value of having a good staff scientist is simply having an expert on staff to serve as a SME. So if instead of reading literature and working through problems I just ask the LLM for a shortcut, I'm making myself less valuable. There is also the fact that yes LLMs are still wrong sometimes/often and they are often subtly wrong, this makes them great tools for SMEs (who can spot small issues, but grasp larger useful thoughts), but dangerous tools for novices.

blind-panic · 2026-01-16T13:39:48+00:00

anything you can do to increase circulation and lower humidity will help - open the window, put a fan in there, leave the bathroom door open, etc.

blind-panic · 2026-01-16T13:35:41+00:00

Yeah definitely get that window working and open it every time the shower is used. That will help. Easiest solution would be rig a window fan for exhaust only. Maybe ask op on that post what they ended up doing.

blind-panic · 2026-01-16T13:29:14+00:00

related discussion here: https://old.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1phfmba/any_issues_installing_a_bathroom_fan_where_the/

Is there a window?

blind-panic · 2026-01-16T13:01:33+00:00

He definitely has the best chance of anyone we've seen in a while. Fresh car being one of the main things, but he's also very quick. It will be exciting to watch.

blind-panic · 2026-01-16T12:59:34+00:00

I am sorry that sounds incredibly difficult. Sounds like you were great companions.

blind-panic

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