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Ethan Mollick Profile picture
@emollick
Nov 18, 2021 • 8 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
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Knowing true information can sometimes cause harm (think of the annoyance of seeing spoilers as a tiny example). This paper on information hazards is a preview to many of the issues we face today.

So, a 🧵 on some surprising hazards of knowledge... 1/ nickbostrom.com/information-ha…
Ideological hazards: Most people have only a little knowledge about what their ideological belief (whether religious or political) really encompasses. On the web, you can learn that your chosen belief system also includes hazardous elements that you feel you need to adopt. 2/
Evocation hazards: there may be particular information that, when people encounter it, triggers them. This is not just in the common sense of triggering past trauma, but that some conspiracy theories or memes might be unusually tempting to people in particular mental states. 3/
Norm hazards: we share common sets of beliefs about how we, as a society or economy, should operate. If information breaks our belief in these norms, even if the information is true, it can create instability in the overall system. 4/
Distraction hazards. You are reading this on Twitter, enough said. 5/
Psychological reaction hazard: "Information can reduce well-being by causing sadness, disappointment, or some other psychological effect in the receiver." We know this actually happens in social media from experiments 6/
And then there is the science fiction favorite - the Neuropsychological Hazard, where information will actually cause physical harm. Triggering epileptics is one real example, mentioning MacBeth at a theater a fictional one. A list of more Basilisks: …if-of-harmful-sensation.wikiverse.org 7/
And then there is this amazing example of an information hazard that the paper didn’t consider, when learning about how an organization really works is like Lovecraftian secret knowledge that drives you mad, as you learn how there is no guiding power, only the uncaring void... 8/

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More from @emollick

Ethan Mollick Profile picture
Dec 17
Veo 2 prompt: "a distant shot zooms in to reveal a knight wearing a golden helmet, he begins to charge on his zebra, lowering his lance, charging towards a clockwork octopus" (this is one of the initial 4 videos it made)
"an woman with short black hair assembles an impossibly complicated device, close up on her face, she is sweating"

The consistency of small details is really impressive, the fact that the shaft of the screw turns at the same speed and direction, hair and sweat, tattoos...
"a man holding the leash of a golden retriever stares mournfully at a fireworks display over his small town of Tudor-style homes, the flashes punctuate the darkness."

All videos are from the first 4 from the prompt. I did learn that you can't ask for many cuts or scene changes.
Read 10 tweets
Ethan Mollick Profile picture
Dec 8
I thought puzzle design beyond current AI, so this is the first time I have seen a model actually create a solvable and interesting puzzle.

"o1, create a d&d puzzle that is non-trivial, but solvable. it should not involve elements or statues, be creative."

(Solution in thread) Image
Here are the hints it gave and the solution.

(There is one unnecessary step in the puzzle, by the way, but a zero shot coherent word puzzle is pretty neat) Image
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I suppose the silent e's might complicate things, but I wouldn't think they would stop solving.
Read 5 tweets
Ethan Mollick Profile picture
Oct 26
Claude: “Give me hard original writing prompts for an MFA program” yields some really clever (and near impossible) prompts. Image
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A few more. (Literal prompt: “give me some more”) Image
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It did well on #12 (broken into parts)

# The Night Shift
## Operation Manual: TX-2047 Industrial Processing Unit
### Document Classification: Essential Reading
### Last Updated: 27 October 2024

**WARNING: Failure to follow proper shutdown procedures may result in catastrophic system failure and/or permanent spiritual contamination of the processing unit. All operators must complete this training module before attempting solo operation.**

I've been working the night shift at the plant for three weeks now, and I still can't shake the feeling that something's wrong. The constant hum of machinery should be comforting – white noise to fade into the background – but instead it feels like a presence. Watching. Waiting.

**1. INITIAL POWER-UP SEQUENCE**
- Locate the main control panel in the eastern wing
- Insert operator key and turn clockwise until resistance is felt
- Wait for the safety lights to pulse three times

The eastern wing is the worst. During day shift, it's just another industrial corridor: concrete floors, steel pipes, fluorescent lights. But at night, those same lights flicker and dim, casting shadows that seem to move when you're not looking directly at them. The shadows are always darker near the main control panel.

**WARNING: Never attempt to force the operator key if resistance occurs before a full clockwise turn. This may indicate a structural compromise in the primary containment system.**

The manual says the resistance is normal, just the safety systems engaging. But it feels different every time – sometimes a clean click, sometimes a grinding that sets my teeth on edge. Last night, I swear I heard whispering when I turned the key.

**2. PRIMARY SYSTEM ACTIVATION**
- Check all pressure gauges in sequence (A through F)
- Verify each gauge reads within acceptable parameters (see Table 1.1)
- If any gauge shows readings in the red zone, proceed to Emergency Protocol 7

They never told me what happened to the last night shift operator. Clean record, five years of experience, then one morning they found the control room empty. The key was still in the panel, turned halfway. All six pressure gauges were pegged in the red.

**Table 1.1 - Acceptable Operating Parameters**
```
Gauge A: 2.3 - 2.7 kPa
Gauge B: 15.0 - 15.5 kPa
Gauge C: 7.2 - 7.8 kPa
Gauge D: 3.0 - 3.3 kPa
Gauge E: 9.1 - 9.4 kPa
Gauge F: 4.5 - 4.8 kPa
```

The numbers dance in front of my eyes during every check. Sometimes they seem to change when I blink, but when I look again, they're normal. Always just within acceptable parameters. Always just barely safe.

**3. COOLANT SYSTEM INITIALIZATION**
- Open primary coolant valves in the following sequence ONLY:
1. Valve 2C
2. Valve 4A
3. Valve 1B
4. Valve 3D
- Listen for the distinctive activation tone
- Verify flow rates on digital display

The activation tone. That's what they call it in the manual. A clear, mechanical chime that means everything's working properly. But it doesn't sound like a chime anymore. It sounds like singing. Like a voice calling from somewhere deep in the pipes.

**WARNING: The correct valve sequence must be followed precisely. Improper activation may result in system contamination and anomalous behavior of both mechanical and digital components.**

I asked my supervisor about system contamination once. His face went pale, and he told me to stick to the manual. Just follow the procedures. Don't ask questions. Don't investigate unusual sounds. Don't look too long at the shadows near the pressure gauges.
Read 5 tweets
Ethan Mollick Profile picture
Oct 21
I wish people would stop repeating these as if they are facts that AI is plateauing.

AI might hit a roadblock, we don’t know, but every one of these issues has multiple studies stating the opposite: synthetic data works, scaling is fine, etc. We need more nuance on the AI future Image
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Good thread on synthetic data:
One paper arguing the other side of the “LLMs don’t reason” debate
Read 5 tweets
Ethan Mollick Profile picture
Sep 27
It is amazing how the industry came together to invent a universal USB-C connector and then decided to instead make it all a giant mess. Image
Remember to research your cable as well. Image
At least the symbols are intuitive. So easy to figure out which carry power and which carry data.

Amazing choices. Image
Read 5 tweets
Ethan Mollick Profile picture
Aug 18
I don’t know if LLMs can reason in theory, but they seem to “reason” in practice.

Ask Claude a Fermi problem: How many telephone poles are there in Manhattan? (Guess: 440. Actual: 0). On Staten Island? (Guess 19000-2859. Actual: 27,137) Queens? (Guess: 51-85k. Actual: 103k)

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It doesn’t seem to have the number handy, but, even if it did, next token prediction should mean it reasons forward, not backward from a conclusion.
They are obviously not good at all sorts of problems (logic puzzles, etc.) but they do well at many others (Fermi problems, etc).

Reasoning is a jagged frontier for LLMs.
Read 6 tweets

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