The FussDec 14
Mx. Eddie R

George Clooney is an actor.

Put him in the role of a surgeon in front of a camera, and he will do and say things the average non-surgeon viewer will agree are surgeonish. After an hour of that, we are, as average non-surgeon viewers, satisfied and entertained.

Put him in an operating theatre, and the patient will fucking die because he's not a surgeon and knows nothing about really doing surgery.

This is a post about LLMs.

Dec 14 at 6:41pmWeb
Show threadslowtigerDec 14
@silvermoon82
In the old days of Usenet, it was common to put a disclaimer under a piece of advice:
"Note: I'm no doctor nor do I play one on TV."
Show threadScott Williams 🐧Dec 14
@slowtiger @silvermoon82 IANAL
Show threadMichael VilainDec 15

@slowtiger @silvermoon82 And a set of commercials expaned that to "And I didn't stay in a Motel 6 last night".

The only connection to that statement and being a doctor is that the person had to make their own breakfast and coffee and is probably very cranky and not running on all their cylinders.

Show threadPax Ahimsa GethenDec 15

@slowtiger @silvermoon82

Fun fact: Peter Bergman, the soap opera star who uttered that famous phrase in a 1986 commercial for cough syrup, had a small but significant part in the premiere of the (excellent) new Apple TV+ series, "Pluribus".

Vicks Formula 44 commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts0XG6qDIco

I'm not a Doctor, but I play one on TV Commercial 1986 with Peter Bergman Vicks Formula 44

YouTube
Show threadPēteris KrišjānisDec 14
@silvermoon82 also LLM chat bot models are and always has been set up to be pleasing costumers, not actually achieving something.
Show threadBernd Petrovitsch🔴🔴🔴♂️🏳️‍🌈🇦🇹🇪🇺Dec 15
@peteriskrisjanis @silvermoon82 but it's basically bullshitting the user ...
Show threadPēteris KrišjānisDec 15
@ovrim @silvermoon82 I personally feel that is the point. Many genAI users admit they like being BS to. It is not a productivity tool per se.
Show threadTom MagnanimousDec 14
@silvermoon82 good analogy except for the part where llm output is satisfying or entertaining
Show threadhexDec 14
@funkula @silvermoon82 or "we" is the c-suite.
Show threadFoolishOwlDec 14

@funkula @silvermoon82 LLMs aren't actors or writers or any other sort of artist.

Just to be clear.

Show threadanubis2814Dec 14
@silvermoon82 Only satisfying to dumb people, like CEOs who want to stop paying human workers
Show threadGutmensch.Dec 14
@silvermoon82 So, how much money is being blown into AI? Only to look serious to tech un-savvy investors.
Show threadSpeed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸Dec 14
@impooortant Read Paul Krugmans substack. He's got the numbers. When the AI winter returns, the crash will be worse than subprime, worse than dot-com worse than tulips worse than anything we've seen. The AI-funding musical chairs is all that holds off a major recession. In the US, and consequently in the (western) world. Gobbling up real-estate, buildings, energy, engineers. @silvermoon82
Show threadSpeed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸Dec 14
@impooortant One reason it will be worse is that the AI boom will leave very little value in its wake. Dot-com gave us dark fiber that has since been turned on. Sub-prime left houses that people are now living in. AI will leave more data-center space than we can use, burnt-out NVIDIA-chips and /maybe/ some electricity generation. If we're lucky. @silvermoon82
Show threadAndy GatesDec 15
@hakona @impooortant @silvermoon82 Data centres might end up like ghost malls. Hopefully more battery sheds than weed farms but we'll see how it goes.
Show threadGutmensch.Dec 15
A surplus energy market consolidates to the cheapest options.
In a sane nation.
@andygates @hakona @silvermoon82
Show threadSpeed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸Dec 15
@andygates
Weed is the new oil! (as we say in Norway, expecting peak oil any day now)
@impooortant @silvermoon82
Show thread_noelamac_Dec 14

@silvermoon82 But the patient, hours before dying, was impressed and satisfied by the eloquent and convincing way his soon to be slaughterer explained the procedure, carefully paying attention to any question the patient asked and responding to it in exactly the manner, tone and content the patient wanted to hear. Before falling asleep to anesthesia, the patient smiled and congratulated himself for being so smart to find the right actor, ähm, doctor for his problem.

#ai #llm

Show threadMaurizio Dec 14
@silvermoon82 I suppose it would be possible to decline the story in many several ways.
E.g. Donald Trump is a son of a billionaire in buildings sector...
Show threadSkjeggtrollDec 14

@silvermoon82

I don't know. I think LLMs are closer to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_90HLJ_DYS8

That Mitchell and Webb Look - Medical Drama

YouTube
Show threadrootDec 14

@skjeggtroll @silvermoon82 the "we wrote a thing, just didn't want to get bogged in all the terminology" also works great for ai-related marketing

Mitchell and Webb are so universally applicable!

Show threadGreg Burrell 🦞🚴🥔Dec 27
@skjeggtroll @silvermoon82 I always think they're something more like this https://youtu.be/B_m17HK97M8
Mitchell & Webb: Cheesoid

YouTube
Show threadRich Puchalsky ⩜⃝Dec 14

@silvermoon82

I understand this but I object to this metaphor. Clooney is a *skilled* actor.

Show threadMikeDec 14
@silvermoon82 I am going to be only slightly more ethical than your average LLM by actually TELLING YOU that I am stealing this to use it day to day...
Show threadPranav GourDec 14

@silvermoon82

So here LLM is the Actor acting as a Surgeon?

Show threadvanecx 🇧🇪Dec 14
@silvermoon82 what a disappointing plot twist, i thought it was about George Clooney 😔
Show threadResunaDec 14

@silvermoon82

I'm not sure that an LLM could even theoretically maintain the character of a surgeon for an hour on stage. :)

Show threadgnaddrigDec 14
@silvermoon82
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/ai-a-dedicated-fact-failing-machine-or-yet-another-reason-not-to-trust-it-for-anything/
“AI”: A Dedicated Fact-Failing Machine, or, Yet Another Reason Not to Trust It For Anything

I search my name on a regular basis, not only because I am an ego monster (although I try not to pretend that I’m not) but because it’s a good way for me to find reviews, end-of-the-yea…

Whatever
Show threadKarl AuerbachDec 14

@silvermoon82 A counter-example (with actors stepping in and doing "the job") is Galaxy Quest.

That's a documentary film, right?

Show threadLog 🪵Dec 14
@karlauerbach @silvermoon82 Part of the historical records.
Show threadLance, Enjoying Copious PollenDec 14

@silvermoon82 Now, Alan Alda is an actor who spent a lot of TV time doing surgery. He might have picked up a thing or two about actual surgery in the process.

Maybe not. But I'd let him cut me open if the only other option was George Clooney.

Show threadcraignicolDec 14

@analogfusion @silvermoon82 that might not be the worst idea... https://doyouremember.com/205655/alan-alda-shared-mash-medical-knowledge-doctors-before-surgery

It's interesting how close this thread is to a Wix advert I keep seeing where the actor uses AI precisely because he doesn't know what he's doing... 🤔

Alan Alda Used His 'M*A*S*H' Knowledge To Shock Everyone When He Needed Surgery

Alan Alda once used his medical knowledge from 'M*A*S*H' to connect with a doctor when he had to undergo surgery far from home.

DoYouRemember?
Show threadLance, Enjoying Copious PollenDec 14

@craignicol @silvermoon82 I didn't know that story about how much real knowledge he'd picked up! That's really cool.

(I almost never watch TV so I haven't seen the ad.)

Show threadcraignicolDec 14
@analogfusion @silvermoon82 he mentioned it in his podcast (can't remember which episode, there's a lot). I would recommend it - Clear And Vivid
Show threadAlecia Batson (she/her)Dec 14
@silvermoon82 as an actor with considerable knowledge about LLMs, I co-sign this toot. 🖊️
Show threadSoozcatDec 14

@silvermoon82 Oh that's well said.

When you ask a pet parrot "Who's a pretty bird?" and the bird excitedly responds, "Pretty bird! Pretty bird!" you are having more of a real conversation with avian intelligence than you are with AI. But human beings are so easily fooled by good grammar and syntax that if you could teach a bird to respond, "You know, Sooz, I've thought about this a bit and it occurs to me that I am indeed a pretty bird," most humans would assume it understood exactly what it was saying. They would be blinded by eloquence.

Show threadJ. R. DePriest    :EA DATA. SF:Dec 14
@Soozcat @silvermoon82 this is how politicians speak.
Show threadSoozcatDec 14
@jrdepriest @silvermoon82 Unless they're Trump. Then they're more like parrots. BUILD WALL MAKE MEXICO PAY FOR IT and so forth.
Show threadLog 🪵Dec 14
@Soozcat @silvermoon82 A bird would never say that. It would say, "You're goddamned right I'm pretty. In fact, no. Fuck you. I'm more than pretty; I'm gorgeous. I'm a fucking 10 and a half. A legend! Get me some almonds and some of those little dried papaya cubes, ape. And call in the cat. We got business. You're dismissed."
Show threadKim Crawley (she/her) 😷🍉Dec 14
@silvermoon82 Please check out https://stopgenai.com
Stop Gen AI – Mutual Aid and Political Activism

Show threademeritrixDec 15

@crowgirl

Thanks. Helpful.

I think Startpage, like duckduckgo, also allows one to exclude ai results.

N.b., udm=14 does not show the recent web, so that's a notable limit there.

Show threadtsadilasDec 14
@silvermoon82 amazing metaphor
Show threadGary HoustonDec 14
@silvermoon82 Actors don't seem to have any special insight into politics, either, and it shouldn't be big news when one expresses an opinion (this also applies to LLMs.)
Show threadRaulDec 14

@silvermoon82 Besides that, there's the reality that some things really do not need AI at all.

Example: lifting the lid of a trashcan by simply stepping on the lever at the bottom. Or if no lever there, just lifting the lid with one hand, while throwing the stuff into it with the other hand.

But wait, What? Are you still doing that arcaic thing? Wake up! You can automate your house, a camera can see you approaching the trashcan, it will detect that you have trash in your hands, and it will automatically control an actuator that will lift the lid for you at the right time! It will also be connected to the cloud to get software security updates and improvements, of course. And we only gather statistics on your trashcan usage for you to query at any time for no extra cost on top of the $5000 the camera, computer and actuator on the trashcan cost. A bargain! Don't waste your time pushing levers, or lifting lids. Let AI work for you!

;)

Show threadPax Ahimsa GethenDec 15

@raulinbonn @silvermoon82

For $20K you can get a humanoid robot that might be able to do that chore for you, if enough people pre-order it so they can train the AI properly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3c4mQty_so

I Tried the First Humanoid Home Robot. It Got Weird. | WSJ

YouTube
Show threadFrank HauschildDec 14

@silvermoon82 @mrmarquez

Everytime I try to setup an AI automation at work.

Show threadJohn Francis 🇨🇦🦫🍁💪⬆️Dec 14
@silvermoon82 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1iOnKJA2H7I
Spies Like Us (1985) - The Operation Scene (5/8) | Movieclips

YouTube
Show threadAdamDec 15

@johnefrancis @silvermoon82

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3o96vzqUxE

Would You TRUST Doctor BEAN? | Mr Bean: The Movie | Classic Mr Bean

YouTube
Show threadJohn Francis 🇨🇦🦫🍁💪⬆️Dec 15

@adamsaidsomething @silvermoon82 some solid options in this thread, I think I'd have to go with Dr. Bean, just on his record of luck-based successes. Followed by Mitchell & Webb's competent, jargon-free approach.

Best to avoid the Spies, their patient dies, and last choice would be David of Prometheus, almost certain to be transformed into a horrible new engineered lifeform there.

Show threadpadeluun ⁂Dec 14
@silvermoon82 @stefanmuelller AI = Advanced Imitation
Show thread1337 $#!+ I did thatDec 14
@silvermoon82 We are misunderstanding the #llm moment because we attend to what #zuckerberg , #altman and #musk say more so than we are experimenting with the new media. So many people in this thread are nodding and missing the moment. Both that this kind of #AI has been world changing for two decades, and that what comes after the asses lose everything in the llm bubble burst will continue to change everything. You may smash a few looms, but my students will have AI literacy, and how to make.
Show threadoatmealDec 14
@silvermoon82 Before I reached the end of the post, I was about to comment sarcastically that this is a fair commentary about #llm 😏 …. This technology is a disaster for anything beyond spell checking and proofreading. It’s not that great at coding either pattern matching/recognition can only get you so far. The rest is marketing. You can’t trust llms even when they’re grounded in verified sources you provided them, let alone the naive use many people make of the various chatbots. I spent hours explaining to my partner that they must first upload reliable content and guide the model in the right direction before asking it anything they care to actually use in their work.
Show threadgbsillsDec 14
@silvermoon82 For a minute I thought this post was about RFK Jr.
Show threadpenryuDec 14
@silvermoon82 @RosaCtrl So ChatGPT has been cast as Frank Abagnale Jr in the most economically and ecologically destructive performance of "Catch Me If You Can" in history?
Show threadbetonglenDec 14

@silvermoon82

stop using them!

this is a post about LLMs