Back in the 1970s when SQL was new, it was touted as an English-like database language. Now with ChatGPT you really can do database queries in actual English and it understands. Amazing. Whether the info is accurate or not (I suspect it is) is beside the point. It's doing something with language that has not been possible before. Check out this query. "Make a table of 15 oscar-winning actors and actresses ranked by number of nominations, also include a column with the names of at most three of the movies they made that won best picture."#
Yesterday I posted a full-length excerpt of the Google and HTTP piece on Twitter, and was surprised at the positive response. I had posted links to the full article many times, and mostly got flames from programmer priests, Googly trolls, but this time the message got through. It was RT'd 58 times, and got 24K views. Not bad for something most people would consider esoteric, yet is still fundamental the their continued freedom on the unowned open web. #
Just for fun the other day I asked ChatGPT for 150 words on Christopher Lydon and Amanda Palmer, wondering if it would find the connection between them. It wrote a paragraph profile on each, but did not discover that Palmer had written a song about Lydon. Note -- Google's search function totally made the connection. #
Yet another use-case for ChatGPT. I'm using the wpcom package for Node.js to make calls about a user's WordPress account. I want to know what sites the user is following in their reader app. But they don't document the high-level call for that function, which is documented at the REST level. So I ask ChatGPT what to do and it gives me the code I need. In the past I would probably have been able to piece it together with guesswork, trial and error. Might have taken a whole day. Now I have it working while I'm still drinking my morning coffee. BTW, I also had ChatGPT do code review, and it spots an error, and of course I fix it, happily.#Posted on Masto: I find that ChatGPT is far better than Wikipedia at recounting history I know the truth about. Less subject to human manipulation, imho. When we criticize the machines we should remember what we have to compare them with and we should get our act together. Imagine if the AIs wrote critiques about our accuracy.#
- I'm dumping these into the the Activity Feed for the Berkman reuinion but thought I should post them here as well.#
- ChatGPT is a miracle. It's one of those things like VisiCalc, the Mac UI, the WWW or Pointcast that after experiencing it I knew everything had changed.#
- What makes for a great conference experience? How to keep the interesting stuff in the room from spilling out into the hallway.#
- A session about all the ways we love and miss John Perry Barlow. Have Charlie lead this discussion of course.#
- Is there any way the web to be open in the future or is it doomed to be forever controlled by the nerds in silicon valley? And do they really know what's best for us? Why?#
- Based on all the people who say they were at BloggerCon, there must've been 100,000 people there, but there were actually only a couple of hundred. Were you one of them? Anything we could have done better?#
- I've reached a milestone in my wpidentity project. #
- It's now a package, so it can be included in other servers. #
- There's also an interface for browser-based clients to call through the server to wordpress.com. #
- I've got a couple of simple demo apps running. #
- Thinking of hooking it up to Drummer and/or FeedLand. #
- It's a richer interface to WordPress content than I've had. #
- Apparently this is using the same API that their browser-based client, Calypso, uses. #
- I have some definite ideas, but it's time for a break from development, off to schmooze with old and new Berkmanites. I'm one of the old ones -- it's been 20 years since I showed up there in 2003, believe it or not. #