Chautauqua 3

 Of dogs and thunderstorms....

The Liminal Space

I have, for some time, been quietly obsessed with the concept of the Liminal Space. Most of my photos over some years have veered towards expression of the aesthetic. A liminal space being defined as follows (from above link):

True to its etymology ("liminal" being derived from the Latin word limen, meaning "threshold"), the concept of a liminal space encompasses physical spaces that, due to their function, are transitional in nature - hallways, waiting rooms, parking lots and rest stops are the archetypical examples of such places. Liminal space aesthetics relate to the unique feelings of eeriness, nostalgia, and apprehension people report when presented with such places outside of their designed context; most notably, their function as intermediary points between origin and destination. For instance, an empty stairwell or hospital corridor at night might look sinister or uncanny because these places are usually brimming with life and movement. Therefore, the absence of external stimuli (such as conversations, people moving around, or any kind of social dynamics) creates an otherworldly and forlorn atmosphere.

Chautauqua 2.

I had the following chat with GPT4, using the Chat With PDF plugin. GPT4 was able to use that plugin and carry out analysis of the implications of the paper concerned. 

Chautauqua 1.

Musing on the prescience of E.M. Forster's The Machine Stops, the conditions as we enter the Singularity, and riding the wave. 

For what it's worth, I have changed my opinion on the utility of the concept of Moloch, but this discussion took place over a month ago.

Is GPT4 Useful At Work?

Is a given system useful for a given task? This calls into being the following chain of reasoning. 

Purpose -> Criteria of Acceptability -> Is it useful?

So are Large Language Models as capable at work as a human? Are they useful? In addressing this I'm not going to make public what I've done for my employer, suffice to say it is potentially useful for us in a wide variety of roles. Instead I'm going to approach it from a tangent.

Is GPT4 just a Parrot?

"GPT4 is just an Autocomplete on Steroids!" So goes the cry of pseuds across the internet. 

Let's see.

Chautauqua 0.

I've been very busy, hence disappearing for months, I am now preparing a series of posts about the ongoing singularity. However I've been using GPT3.5 and 4 as an assistant at work and am eagerly awaiting the incorporation of GPT4 into Office 365 as the Office Co-Pilot.

Anyway, here's something I just tried with both GPT3.5 and 4, I am currently using both at work, but doing so with awareness of their capabilities. Typical tasks include pricing up quotes and checking purchase orders against quotes, GPT4 excels at such tasks.