Disclaimer: I know LLMs don’t “talk”, but metaphors are efficient ways of conveying information.
If you’re curious about what the LLM told me, the topic was Scrum and how it relates to complex adaptive systems. I was studying those topics by doing Project Zero’s Visible Thinking Routines, and I was sending those thinking routines to an LLM to see what it replied with. The LLM told me that it’s useful to see Scrum as a set of enablers and constraints. I thought “sure, I guess so”, and didn’t think much of it. That was months ago, and I hadn’t really thought about it since. However, that changed today.
Today, months later, I was reading about complexity and decision-making and I finally understood what enablers and constraints are.
Some time later, I was telling this story to my partner, and that’s when the phrase “An LLM once told me…” came about.
In a way, this story could’ve happened differently and still been the same. The story could’ve been a video, a podcast, or even a book saying, in passing, that “It’s useful to see Scrum as a set of enablers and constraints”. I could’ve not really understood what that meant, but been okay with it. Then, months later, I could’ve found a document on the topic, read it, and finally understood what I didn’t understand before. That could’ve been the story.
But in reality it was a bit different. The story happened with an LLM.
Interesting. I have yet to utter that phrase. Though I have found it interesting and expanding my horizon discussing political topics with an LLM.
It is still easy to see through the faulty logic and ideas that are obviously being simply parroted due to the lack of logical reasoning.
But interesting experience indeed. I wonder what Alan Turing would give to have such an experience.