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[–] 24 points 3 hours ago (6 children)

The rubber duck doesn't feed back anything that might affect how you think. It's more like brainstorming with someone who is both sycophantic and has their own (unthought-though) ideas about how you should do it. At best it's a waste of tokens because a rubber duck would have worked, at worst it directs your thought process rather than letting you think.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 hours ago (1 child)

    Are you so easily manipulated or why do you think that is always the case?

    Everything has the potential of influencing how you think, it is on you how you let that affect you.

    LMs also work for that. If there is somebody who just accepts everything the software puts out, that is a problem with the person.

    Critical thinking should always be applied no matter where information comes from. But I guess critical thinking is on the downtrend, measured by the amount of people spinning up one scenario in their head, arguing based on just that while ignoring every other possible conclusions.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago

    Brainstorming solo versus brainstorming in a group are very different activities. Your assertion was that brainstorming with an LLM, which feeds back more-or-less like another participant, was the same as brainstorming with a rubber duck, i.e. solo, which it is not.

    Brainstorming solo is an exercise in fully exploring your understanding of a subject, and developing new insights or approaches to it. Brainstorming as a group is more about finding a consensus solution or approach. Doing so with an LLM is much closer to the latter, however your "partner" has no actual experience but still presents feedback as though it did, and, critically, has an inbuilt tendancy to confirm your biases. Thinking of that like either solo or group brainstorming will automatically warp your thought processes by encouraging you to stay on certain tracks.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago (2 children)

    So when I brainstorm with a person, they are never confidently wrong? And they never have their own ideas on how I should do it.

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  • [–] 1 point 56 minutes ago

    The assertion was the brainstorming with an LLM was like brainstorming with a rubber duck. It is not, as I've outlined in another comment.

    Brainstorming with another person can also lead to biases, you're correct, but your partner is less likely to just agree with your ideas, or to have built in biases that you're not aware of.

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