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I think farnam street refers to these as mental models. Inspired by Charlie Munger? Nice read!

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Loved #2 on your list of predictions closing the article. It resonates immediately as something very reasonable to assume as likely true about the future. People who are willing to engage with a new technology will not be as underprepared for the consequences the technology will likely lead to. Personally, I still feel somewhat reluctant using ChatGPT (and similar generative AI tools) on a daily basis, and it is probably a good use of my time to inquire where that reluctance comes from, and how to overcome it. One aspect of the future that seems inevitable at this point is that generative AI will -- at least in some domains of life -- become a staple to expect. Even if I were to learn when to trust (and when not to trust!) generative AI output would be an incredibly important way for me to be "prepared" for the future! Great article!!

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Joechen, thanks for the kind words. It would be interesting to understand the source of your reluctance. Is it that you simply forget it's a available to use (a habit issue) or that you think of it but choose not to use it (rationale).

Once it's embedded in every software tool (just Office and Outlook alone) it will be hard to be competitive with coworkers if one doesn't use it. Best to learn now to get ahead or at least stay competitive.

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It's probably a bit of both. For one, it rarely occurs to me (spontaneously) as a means to inquiring into the vast database that human language has generated (and which is now encoded in the weights of a complex AI model). In moments when I do think of it, I then run into two (habitual) thoughts: the first is around my concern with the information offered by ChatGPT being veridical (having had the occasion to observe its ability to confidently confabulate, and I don't like the idea of fact checking a "library"), and the second around my lack of finding the best way of phrasing my request. The few times I tried, it literally took me four or five attempts to write the words that ultimately elicited the information I was looking for -- so it will take me some time to get used to that, but that's definitely the part where I think "worth the effort"!

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Very thought-provoking!

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