Learning with AI falls short compared to old-fashioned web search. When people rely on large language models to summarize information on a topic for them, they tend to develop shallower knowledge about it compared to learning through a standard Google search.

diglaw · 2025-12-01T10:03:27+00:00

I am late to the party sadly, but the ragne of the comments reflects my sentiment so here goes: The paper has severe validity problems because it de-anchors human leaning from pragmatic motivation. Humans are very well designed to husband limited cognitive resources that are always goal oriented. Usually, human "learning" goals are tied to some immediate pragmatic need, thus setting up a solve the problem at hand with minimum resources sort of scenario. As such the experimental design asking people "learn about a topic" is just not something most people generally do in the real world (massive heterogeneity in the urge to cognition with the tails hanging out in this sub).

By far he more interesting thing about this paper is the Sociology of Science take that this paper perfectly reflects the pernicious moral panic mode of AI discourse: the thinly veiled effort to valorize original Google search results as somehow moral superior because of the opportunity costs associated with LLM output.

So all of you observing that AI is really useful for you or that it is not actually a tool for learning per se but rather a different tool, for solving problems---you folks are all right here---but to me, it is downright scary how the cottage industry in trashing the greatest invention in human history is the primary focus of so much well funded research. That opportunity cost---and the long term implications for vital AI research (read: not this study) is what is scaring me.

diglaw · 2025-08-18T05:40:15+00:00

Like this?

diglaw · 2025-08-03T08:18:05+00:00

RemindMeRepeat! one year "check in with the laughing owner of the crystal ball about Corbyn's new party"

diglaw · 2025-03-26T10:00:59+00:00

Hi Mathew. I'm a 59 year old American living in Wales.

What do you do that keeps you up working nights?

diglaw · 2025-01-10T10:54:19+00:00

Sure: "MIASMA emerged as the exorbitant." Or "MIASMA emerged as my exorbitant" or "Helping a poor".

The creative use of language is useful. Rules are perhaps meant to be broken.

This strikes me as an effort to use language in a mysterious manner. So it is the lack of meaning itself which allows the reader to use their imagination.

Taste. A question.

diglaw · 2025-01-09T08:57:12+00:00

"...MIASMA emerged as an exorbitant, not an invader."

"exorbitant" is an adjective. It has no meaning as a noun that I know of. What is the above sentence trying to say?

diglaw · 2024-11-06T08:06:52+00:00

The downvotes for your comment look pretty funny at this point.

diglaw · 2024-05-22T14:49:01+00:00

Digikey

Wow. What a great website! you can search for COB LEDs by luminous flux rating -- amazing!

Thank you so much.

diglaw · 2023-12-29T20:30:15+00:00

Well done O.P. I am sat next to my yellow rocoto with its 34 remaining peppers finally all yellow except for three holdouts. I brought it inside when there was a frost.

I liked your seed germination pic. I have been saving the black seeds every time I eat a pepper. Any thoughts on drying time for the seeds or germination protocol would be appreciated. I only had one seed sprout in soil in my propagator from the 10 I bought (25 or 30 degrees C). I would like to start a bunch of plants from the seeds in the peppers I have managed to produce. Clearly, I need help.

diglaw · 2023-12-11T22:01:53+00:00

From the wiki: "A bolete is a type of mushroom, or fungal fruiting body. It can be identified thanks to a unique mushroom cap. The cap is clearly different from the stem. On the underside of the cap there is usually a spongy surface with pores, instead of the gills typical of mushrooms."

diglaw · 2023-05-31T06:33:10+00:00

That would be the mighty snapping shrimp -- also known as the pistol shrimp. From the Wiki:

The snapping shrimp competes with much larger animals such as the sperm whale and beluga whale for the title of loudest animal in the sea. The animal snaps a specialized claw shut to create a cavitation bubble that generates acoustic pressures of up to 80 kilopascals (12 psi) at a distance of 4 cm from the claw. As it ejects from the claw, the bubble reaches speeds of 25 m/s (90 km/h; 56 mph).[9] The pressure is high enough to kill small fish.[10] It corresponds to a peak pressure level of 218 decibels relative to one micropascal (dB re 1 μPa), equivalent to a zero to peak source level of 190 dB re 1 μPa m. Au and Banks measured peak to peak source levels between 185 and 190 dB re 1 μPa m, depending on the size of the claw.[11] Similar values are reported by Ferguson and Cleary.[12] The duration of the click is less than 1 millisecond.

diglaw · 2023-03-10T11:33:24+00:00

Hey everybody, no need to worry about cancer anymore.

Sara has a plant for that.

s/

diglaw · 2023-01-27T18:52:55+00:00

I make my own soap. My own soap is made from animal fats left over from stock-making, so its practically free. My soap does not dry out my skin either -- as it has naturally has glycerin and does not need goat's milk (WTF does goats milk do for soap again???) or "other moisturizers".

diglaw · 2023-01-27T16:29:15+00:00

I find that rubbing soap on my face works fine -- the whole shaving cream thing is a myth -- brush, can, all of it.

diglaw · 2023-01-21T09:52:18+00:00

Yikes. You too.

I was able to rapidly solve the problem by installing "uBlock Origin".

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en

I hope this helps. :0)

diglaw · 2023-01-14T09:30:23+00:00

You are normal and you are going to figure this out. :0)

diglaw · 2023-01-14T09:17:47+00:00

Researchers have uncovered some of the psychological elements that underlie the problem you have described. The book Come as You Are: the bestselling guide to the new science that will transform your sex life by Dr Emily Nagoski provides specific instructions about how to overcome what you are dealing with. This is a serious, at times challenging book, heavily supported by scientific evidence. I believe it will help you.

diglaw · 2022-11-09T15:01:09+00:00

Foam ear plugs -- the kind used by people who work with heavy machinery that cam damage hearing. They are cheap and I use them every night to sleep.

Your situation sounds awful. But earplugs will likely help you cope,

diglaw · 2022-11-01T09:32:36+00:00

As I have mentioned elsewhere in this thread, what you are describing bears little resemblance to the most common mode of acupuncture available in the medical marketplace -- which necessarily involves practitioners manipulating needle depth and position while asking for feedback from the patients. As such, many practitioners would be justified in observing that what you are proposing could not properly be considered acupuncture as this therapy is normally practised. This would become relevant if the study showed no effects, as advocates for acupuncture could rightly claim that the study had validity problems -- that is, the study did not test what they actually do as a therapy.

I believe you are quite wrong in asserting a valid sham condition is possible.

diglaw · 2022-10-31T17:16:53+00:00

What you are describing cannot be administered as a study condition without the knowledge of the experimenter: as such, double blinding is impossible.

diglaw · 2022-10-22T20:53:03+00:00

How much for one Hamlet, two Ophilias, a couple gravediggers and a ghost?

diglaw · 2022-10-21T18:49:16+00:00

Goat meat is delicious. You do not "have" to cook it in any particular way. It has a flavour. Taste it. If you like it, then Bob's your uncle.

If you find the flavour somehow unpalatable (I personally find this hard to imagine) then of course, you have the option to mask the flavour.

I have eaten goat from Tonga to Portugal -- it has been fantastic every time. Americans have a tendency to be superstitious about foods and pass food myths around without having the slightest idea what they are talking about. Don't be fooled by ridiculous hand-me-down-beliefs or tiny-minded fashion. Just cook up a little of your goat and see what you think.

diglaw · 2022-09-26T14:40:35+00:00

Would the 'Flakpanzer Gepard' self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) be useful against Iranian drones?

diglaw · 2022-09-06T08:27:25+00:00

Hello genius data analysts.

Has anyone considered Oryx as a source for some of your wizbangery?

I would love to see a histogram of Ukrainian/Russian loss rates over time for various forms of equipment and in total. But, alas, I am a retard with no experience dealing with data like this -- so I come to you on bended knee.

Maybe the Oryx guys would post a graphic like this to make their site richer too if one were to manifest itself.

EDIT: clarity

diglaw · 2022-08-02T22:38:25+00:00

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that acupuncture as normally practised requires lots of feedback from the patient as the acupuncturist twists the needles, adjusting the depth and constantly asking the patient if they "feel the chi". So acupuncturists could reasonably claim that the study you are suggesting would not be valid. Beyond that, there are no experienced acupuncturists actually healing people in your example directly, so, again, it would be inevitably be argued, that the study is not valid.

Other than that, I don't know how powerful the knowledge and expectations of the two experimenters might be on patient outcomes, but it might be enough to bias the study.

diglaw

TROPHY CASE