Post

Preprinted! Been working on this for ~1 year w wonderful coauthors Nancy & Mark: > Understanding Artificial Neural Networks: Mysterianism about Known Mechanism is Mysticism doi.org/10.5281/zeno... Have you noticed many experts say they don't understand AI? What's going on? 🤯 Let us tell you... 1/

Here are some flagrant examples, although the appendix is full of them of them too — basically experts and journalists alike seem to repeat this mantra that we do not understand how contemporary AI works. See appendix at the end here for more: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 2/

This hangs with the other statements in fig 1: 1️⃣ ANNs (artificial neural networks) are inspired by human organism 2️⃣ ANNs are a black box we don't understand 3️⃣ We understand neither ANNs nor cognition therefore they are similar All 3 are misplaced! We unpack this... doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 3/

Pausing and will be back later (to avoid getting overwhelmed as well as because I am hungry)! But if you're itching to know more check the PDF obviously. 😌 4/

OK, let's talk about 3 important concepts: ANNs, LLMs, & AI: "Definitions of AI and LLM are hard to pin down [&] ANN is an umbrella term for models" Black box: Really not what people think because actually you can open it (read on in the PDF to find out) by design! doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 5/

Leibniz' Mill: "argument against the idea that mechanical components suffice to understand cognition" All are important & misused (1st 2) or forgotten about (last) to pretend we don't understand AI. OK & lil peek ahead to appreciate the pun this enables in section 4 (doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)! 6/

Before we use those 3 to tease apart what's going on, however, we have to contend with where we are. In 2010s we actually did avoid these traps, yes, even industry! “the most extreme promises of AI are based on a flawed premise: that we understand human intelligence” doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 7/

I returned. So this paper is on understanding why people claim they do not understand; recall promise of an error theory in the abstract. And to do that we need to collect a few thoughts and concepts (Box 1 too) on the way. 2010s hype is described above, 2020s hype is... doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 9/

Or to put it a different way: Why do we tolerate these claims? And even accept them as excuses? Or as a new normal? > The dramatic irony here is [that companies and scientists] are willing to go on record saying they do not know how these models work @eryk.bsky.social doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 10/

Part of the answer is in this 💯 quote from @bpfaffenberger.bsky.social: “Technology, in short, is a mystifying force of the first order[, ] suspending us in webs of significance that we ourselves create.” (p. 250) But there's nuance when it comes to "why" and ANNs... doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 11/

"We must show reverence to the wizards and their magic, for it is a mysterious and unstoppable force even the wizards themselves do not understand fully. The future depends on it! Also, the wizards would like a tax break."

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." — Arthur C. Clark ... and it's "Also, the ridiculously rich wizards, living off the backs of others, any paying almost nothing in taxes now, would like even more of a tax break."