# If you don't understand a question, you probably don't have a valuable answer **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 9, 2024, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505 "2024-08-09T21:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/61 "2024-08-11T16:32:07Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > FWIW, i’m fairly IT literate and follow the AI threads, but i’d never > heard of AGI. AGI is a very common term in artificial intelligence discussions and has been mentioned here quite often – not sure how you could have missed it. Such as in these threads, just to cite a few: > [@Autonomous robot people could be constructed right now](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autonomous-robot-people-could-be-constructed-right-now/998540/14): > > It becomes relevant when the thing that up until now has been doing a fair job of tricking people into believing it’s actually sophont suddenly does something so appallingly mindless that stupidity is an insufficient term. I’m not saying that true AGI is impossible but LLMs aren’t it. > [@The Open Letter to "Pause All AI Development"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-open-letter-to-pause-all-ai-development/981862/40): > > If there’s one word that can be applied to the entire history of AI development, that word is “surprise”. In the early days of AI, initial results suggested that we were just a few refinements away from human-like intelligence and even AGI, including perfect natural language understanding and perfect translation sensitive to context, register, and language idiom. Surprise! We weren’t. Which led to predictions by skeptics that we never would be. Surprise! Now we are, but it took revolutionar… > [@Straight Dope 2/24/2023: What are the chances artificial intelligence will destroy humanity?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-2-24-2023-what-are-the-chances-artificial-intelligence-will-destroy-humanity/980302): > > What are the chances artificial intelligence will destroy humanity? What, you thought the worst that could happen was a [search engine declares its love for you](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-microsoft-chatgpt.html)? Then you haven’t been following the AI news very closely – specifically, the publication last year of a scholarly paper entitled “[Advanced artificial agents intervene in the provision of reward](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aaai.12064).” OK, that’s not as grabby as it might be. Lead author Michael Cohen punched it up some in a tweet: “[Our conclusion is much stronger than that …](https://twitter.com/Michael05156007/status/1567240031168856064?s=20) > [@Large language model AI doesn't learn](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-language-model-ai-doesnt-learn/984778/12): > > If that’s all they do, is that enough to really count as “artificial intelligence”? That’s an argument I’ve seen made by people who work with the technology. What the average person thinks of as “artificial intelligence” and what LLMs actually do are quite different, and that it’s unfortunate that the name “AI” has caught on for the idea. What most people envision is referred to as an AGI: an artificial general intelligence. > [@Talk me off the ledge: Will AI destroy my industry?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-me-off-the-ledge-will-ai-destroy-my-industry/981879/30): > > The real danger of “artificial intelligence” (even pretty limited ‘generative’ AI) is that the convenience will encourage people to pick the cheap and easy option rather than to do the work to develop their own skills, knowledge, and ‘voice’. Nothing that ChatGPT or Bing any of these other engines—and they are just machine synthesis engines, not actual autodidactic intellects—is in any way original, although lacking the constraints that most people have in terms of their cognitive constructs i… > [@Contrarian opinion: AI will soon hit a wall; no apocalypse will happen](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contrarian-opinion-ai-will-soon-hit-a-wall-no-apocalypse-will-happen/997707): > > Here’s an interesting article about the doomsayers: Nope. Now, it’s true that AI has done some incredible things lately. I was playing around with Google’s [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/app) the other day. Pretty amazing. So is [Midjourney](https://www.midjourney.com/home). Just as I felt about online maps and search engines in the late 1990s, I think, “Wow, this is already possible?!” And I do think that AI is going to put a lot of downward pressure on jobs, but that’s due more to the penny-scraping, innovation-scarce nature of late stage capitalism … > [@Artificial intelligence (singulairty) within a few months?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-intelligence-singulairty-within-a-few-months/981324/35): > > This is nonsense with respect to cultural/technological change, because we are not (yet) changing our mental hardware and operating system along with our culture. Humans have been born with essentially the same brains for thousands of years. Each new physically identical human must acquire all cultural knowledge and understanding of technology from scratch. So even if we grant the dubious assumption that there has been no qualitative change and that we’re talking about continuous exponent… > [@Is AI overhyped?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ai-overhyped/1005471): > > The people (Kurzweil, Kaku etc) Saying that AGI is [gonna happen this year](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pUye38cooOE) or in 2029, where are they getting their optimism from? My yardstick is we have AGI when the average entry level worker (Me) Doesn’t need to do their job anymore. I just find the predictions of life being completely altered in such a short time too fantastic to believe (And I want to believe it) Are the people making these bold predictions wrong because they don’t have any real world experience in shitty dead end jobs, o… ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/62 "2024-08-11T16:42:05Z")
I’m obviously not following them as closely is i thought ! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/63 "2024-08-11T17:23:56Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > AGI is a very common term in artificial intelligence discussions and has been mentioned here quite often – not sure how you could have missed it. It’s entirely possible I’ve seen it and it just didn’t register. I’m a little dyslexic, so all acronyms kinda look alike to me, unless i use them so often that i pronounce them in my head. Also, maybe it’s more common in AI discussions here than in the places where i typically have AI discussions. Dunno. Not everyone learns acronyms readily. Not everyone is good at recognizing acronyms. I’m not suggesting you avoid using common acronyms, just that you explain them politely if someone inquiries. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable ask. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/64 "2024-08-11T20:37:13Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > AGI is a very common term in artificial intelligence discussions and has been mentioned here quite often – not sure how you could have missed it. I was unaware of it prior to this thread. I’m an IT professional and deal with discussions about adopting AI where I work. Perhaps it’s not nearly as ubiquitous as you assume. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/65 "2024-08-11T20:51:16Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I was unaware of it prior to this thread. “AGI” didn’t mean anything to me (in the context of AI) either. I’m _not_ an IT professional, nor an AI expert of any kind, but I at least am familiar enough with the concept of AI that I might click on a thread titled “Is AI overhyped?” > [@Atamasama](#): > > Perhaps it’s not nearly as ubiquitous as you assume. I suspect it’s a very common term to a _subset_ of people who discuss artificial intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/66 "2024-08-11T22:10:53Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I suspect it’s a very common term to a _subset_ of people who discuss artificial intelligence. I would think that AGI, meaning artificial general intelligence, is less related to **i** nformation **t** echnology than it is to **sci** ence **fi** ction. Even then, if you read lots of space opera, but not futurism, cyberpunk, or singularity stuff, you may still have not encountered it. However, in agreement with the OP’s point, if you have been paying attention to the **a** rtificial **i** ntelligence talk of the last few years, then you probably will have encountered AGI, particularly as a distinction from **l** arge **l** anguage **m** odels, which is generally what is meant when people talk about current AI technology. So yes, anyone in a position to answer the question would know exactly what AGI meant in the context. Asking for clarity or definitions related to a question does not bother me. What really does bother is people who feel like responding to the question with something, that is neither an answer or attempt to better understand the question. Sometimes this can be straight up threadshitting “AI is stupid, and you’re stupid for trying to understand it.” Other times it just makes me wonder why the person is even in the thread in the first place, “I don’t know what the best rock album of 1975 is, because I don’t listen to much rock.” ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/67 "2024-08-11T22:50:22Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > AGI is a very common term in artificial intelligence discussions and has been mentioned here quite often – not sure how you could have missed it. > > I was unaware of it prior to this thread. > > I’m an IT professional and deal with discussions about adopting AI where I work. > > Perhaps it’s not nearly as ubiquitous as you assume. I wouldn’t expect someone involved in applying contemporary AI to business applications to necessarily have a professional interest in AGI, but it’s been a central focus of discussions about AI evolution for decades now in the AI research community. It has nothing to do with IT, at least as it exists today. > [@echoreply](#): > > I would think that AGI, meaning artificial general intelligence, is less related to **i** nformation **t** echnology than it is to **sci** ence **fi** ction. Welcome to the 21st century, where thousands of **[papers like this about AGI](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-41649-6_6)** are being published in academic journals, where in fact there’s an entire journal dedicated to the subject (Journal of Artificial General Intelligence), and where papers are being published on the subject **[even outside the context of AI](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10485377/)**. This is absolutely not “sci-fi” any more. > [@echoreply](#): > > … if you have been paying attention to the **a** rtificial **i** ntelligence talk of the last few years, then you probably will have encountered AGI, particularly as a distinction from **l** arge **l** anguage **m** odels, which is generally what is meant when people talk about current AI technology. LLMs are only a small subset of current AI technology. They’ve made a big impression on the public zeitgeist because their primary goal of carrying on seemingly intelligent conversations has been extraordinarily successful and the public has been widely exposed to it, but it’s far from being the only contemporary AI technology. It’s just that LLMs are quite new and have been unexpectedly successful to the point that they could plausibly pass the Turing test, if anyone considers that to be a worthwhile benchmark any more. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/68 "2024-08-11T23:02:46Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > LLMs are only a small subset of current AI technology. They’ve made a big impression on the public zeitgeist I think the three most hyped/publicly known current AI categories are LLMs, image/video generators, and self-driving cars. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/69 "2024-08-11T23:04:56Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > where in fact there’s an entire journal dedicated to the subject (Journal of Artificial General Intelligence I notice that the name of the journal isn’t “journal of AGI”. It’s completely unremarkable that there’s a journal of that name, and its existence says nothing about how common it is in general writing to see the abbreviation “AGI” without and explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/70 "2024-08-11T23:08:35Z")
The OP asked to discuss a video. AGI is defined in the first 30 seconds of that video. 15 seconds if you watch on double speed. We get so few GD threads, let’s not discourage the few folks willing to actually start them by telling them they should wait until they have enough time to pander to people whom they don’t even want to engage with. It’s ok to not understand a thread. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/71 "2024-08-11T23:34:26Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > where in fact there’s an entire journal dedicated to the subject (Journal of Artificial General Intelligence > > I notice that the name of the journal isn’t “journal of AGI”. It’s completely unremarkable that there’s a journal of that name, and its existence says nothing about how common it is in general writing to see the abbreviation “AGI” without and explanation. I haven’t claimed that “AGI” is common and should be understood in general writing. I said it was very common in the context of AI-focused discussions. It’s been in use for decades in the AI community. I actually do find it rather remarkable that there’s an entire journal dedicated to it, though, because it’s still a speculative area. But it does illustrate how important the concept is because it’s central to discussions about AI achieving and then exceeding the capabilities of human intelligence. Of course the full name of the acronym will be spelled out in the journal name, because journal names convey no context and the names of all academic journals often appear together in sorted listings of journal impact factors and other general situations where the journal name must be self-explanatory. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/72 "2024-08-11T23:39:00Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > We get so few GD threads, let’s not discourage the few folks willing to actually start them by telling them they should wait until they have enough time to pander to people whom they don’t even want to engage with. It’s ok to not understand a thread. Huh? Who made that request? I simply requested that if someone asks about an acronym, it’s helpful to answer the question. It doesn’t have to fall to the OP to do so, anyone who understood the acronym can do so. And if the OP is the only person in the thread who knows what their acronym meant, they really ought to explain it. 😉 But also, in general, the assumption that “anyone who doesn’t recognize this acronym can’t possibly participate” is false. Not in every case. But often enough that it’s rude to make that assumption. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/73 "2024-08-11T23:59:21Z")
Also, the usefulness of having AGI explained to you depends on the context of the question. If you ask a social question like if AGI would be a positive or negative to society, you can reasonably have a useful answer even if you have to have the concept explained to you because you are part of society. But it is a technical question about the hardware/software involved, then if you don’t already have some familiarity with the area, then there is essentially no chance you will have a useful answer after having had it explained to you. That thread in question probably had a somewhat unclear thread title, seeming like the thread will be about a cultural issue, but reading the OP you see the actual question is about the technology: are the people saying AIG will be achieved soon being overly optimistic? Let’s say there is a thread titled “Is a Macintosh computer any good?” but in the text of the OP you see that they are actually asking about the font support in Adobe Premiere Pro Macintosh version vs. Windows version. Two very different questions requiring two very different levels of familiarity. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/74 "2024-08-12T00:16:48Z")
Maybe. A lot of areas use jargon and niche vocabulary and one might have insights after clarifying what is meant. Sometimes unexpressed things like stated or unstated assumptions, boundary conditions, tradition or local practice affect results but knowing what is assumed remains important because the answer might be garbage. Sometimes memes, humour or the Marvel universe depend on knowing previous things. Sometimes problems are wicked and hard to express and in such cases understanding the correct question may be the best answer. But yeah. In general, if you don’t understand the basics the advanced stuff will elude you. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/75 "2024-08-12T02:28:11Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > if AGI would be a positive or negative to society On the one hand letting people take deductions prior to computing their total income is an important way to make sure income taxes are progressive, but on the other hand, without something like the three laws of robotics in place, we could find ourselves in a Skynet type situation. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/76 "2024-08-12T10:09:46Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But also, in general, the assumption that “anyone who doesn’t recognize this acronym can’t possibly participate” is false. Not in every case. But often enough that it’s rude to make that assumption. Anyone who took more time asking than it would have taken to hear the definition in the video or mouse over (no reading necessary) the Wikipedia link in the second post absolutely should not be participating. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/77 "2024-08-12T11:09:43Z")
You know that “moussing over” doesn’t work on mobile, right? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/78 "2024-08-12T11:52:58Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > ETA: more seriously, popping into a thread like that to ask about the acronym is effectively a threadshit. As stated in the OP, if you don’t already know, you aren’t going to bring anything to the thread. But sometimes I’m not trying to bring anything to the thread; sometimes I’m trying to get something from it. Or is only the OP allowed to learn anything? ?אם לא תשאל, איך תדע ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/79 "2024-08-12T12:07:30Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > ?אם לא תשאל, איך תדע In the spirit of the thread, I ran that through Google Translate instead of asking what it meant. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505/80 "2024-08-12T12:09:46Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Realize that not every question and not every post is meant for you. Yes, I quickly learned to be wary of “Factual Questions”. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people here in many different areas so, unless I believe I have something worthy, I keep quiet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-understand-a-question-you-probably-dont-have-a-valuable-answer/1005505.md?page=5)