Great video.

[jamesbritt@mastodon.social]

@wackJackle

Thanks! I thought that might be her. She wrote Inventing the Renaissance. She's very interesting.

[wackjackle@norden.social]

@jamesbritt First time I've heard about her but I will look for more input.

[ginevracat@toot.community]

@wackJackle

[ezrine@piaille.fr]

@wackJackle except you can't put LLMs on the same line. It's no "tech revolution".

[wackjackle@norden.social]

@ezrine She doesn't say it. Listen to what she has to say again.

[otyugh@pouet.chapril.org]

@wackJackle Loving the part about Gutenberg going bankrupt and all the following ones.

Less of a fan of the conclusion* (but does she knows how to tell a story ! I was sucked right in, wow)

*Because I don't think its very interesting to argue on the unity of change on some technique branch (computers/the press) while it's always a continuum anyway so like, in the end, I felt "duh all this for that". But it was a nice journey anyway.

[ezrine@piaille.fr]

@wackJackle mm

[wackjackle@norden.social]

@otyugh You don't have to agree with someone has to say about a topic. You can still learn something about it.

[birozularutti@piaille.fr]

@wackJackle Thanks for sharing this! Her take on the successive tech revolutions about information is quite interesting.

<my 2cts>
But I find it difficult to consider the output of LLMs/Gen AI as "information". I'd rather word it as "data".

For it to be considered as "information", I would expect these technologies to provide "new facts", which they can't (or hallucinate, in which case they are false information).

Therefore I don't see how this serves the information history.
</my 2cts>

[susan_calvin@mastodon.social]

@jamesbritt @wackJackle that's an awesome book.

[otyugh@pouet.chapril.org]

@wackJackle Totally, that's why I also said I loved the part I loved ! (and learned !)

[samueljohnson@mstdn.social]

@birozularutti @wackJackle If you read up on distinctions between data, information, knowledge and wisdom you'll find no requirement for information to be true, accurate or novel.

Its character is informing, that is communicating something meaningful. Misinformation and disinformation are forms of information often even more amenable to communication ("a lie gets halfway round the world before the truth gets its boots on").

[birozularutti@piaille.fr]

@samueljohnson @wackJackle I need to read a bit more about that. The definitions for data and information I had in mind were close to these: https://bloomfire.com/blog/data-vs-information/

According to these definitions, I still think that GenAI/LLM output does not qualify as information. At best, it mimics information provided by others.

But I agree on disinformation being a form of information.

[agreeable_landfall@mastodon.social]

@wackJackle If anyone can find the rest of this interview, please post a link below. Thanks!

[bobdevney@wandering.shop]

@wackJackle

Ada Palmer is a national treasure! A terrific Renaissance historian at UChicago. But also an exciting, erudite (and fun!) guest at science fiction/fantasy/horror conventions for years. (She wrote the mind-bending Terra Ignota series.)

At one con she handed a small incunabulum around the room for everyone to (carefully) hold in our hands, while she spoke brilliantly about the early history of printing, as in this video.

Ada Palmer - Wikipedia

(en.wikipedia.org)

#History #Printing #ScienceFiction

[mx@typo.social]

@wackJackle This is fascinating @adapalmer and she deserves to be tagged directly

[wackjackle@norden.social]

@mx I@adapalmer@wandering.shop I agree and I forgot that I'm already following her. I'm sorry. She's fantastic.

[geepawhill@mastodon.social]

@adapalmer My new crush. Watching the whole podcast now, sipping rye and drinking beer.

[eco_amandine@mastodon.cr]

@wackJackle this is fantastic. Thanks for the clear explanation @adapalmer

[nilz@norden.social]

@wackJackle @adapalmer

We must be thankful for religion + capitalism...