Ask HN: Are LLMs Just Philosophical Zombies?
2 pointsby slipknotfan5 hours ago2 comments
  • jqpabc1235 hours ago
    It's not actually "artificial intelligence" but more like "fake intelligence".

    Assembling a plausible sounding sentence doesn't mean that you know what you're talking about.

    The number of people who fail to grasp this is mind boggling.

    • pixel_popping5 hours ago
      And how do you explain that they can do advanced mathematics?
      • jqpabc1234 hours ago
        How do you explain when they can't? If they *really* understand math, why is the error rate so high?

        According to a 2025 Stanford HAI report, large language models fail basic multi-step arithmetic up to 40% of the time without external tools.

        https://medium.com/@dojolabs.main/why-does-ai-get-math-wrong...

        • pixel_popping4 hours ago
          2025... have you checked latest models? and even, this talk is irrelevant when we know in few months/years this exact topic will be solved.
          • jqpabc1233 hours ago
            we know in few months/years this exact topic will be solved

            You may know this somehow --- but I don't. Without a fundamental re-design, the basic problem will remain.

            I don't believe it is possible to apply statistics to predict answers without significant errors.

            • pixel_popping3 hours ago
              yes but most humans (also without tools, to do a fair comparison) also make significant errors, WAY more than Opus 4.7 and GPT-5.4 xhigh
              • jqpabc1233 hours ago
                yes but most humans (also without tools, to do a fair comparison) also make significant error

                Humans adopted the use of computers because they provided accurate answers at low cost.

                At least until recently. Now, LLMs provide questionable answers at high cost.

                • pixel_popping2 hours ago
                  but LLMs + Tools (computers) right now beat large majority of humans (and we know this gap will keep widening), so how does that make them "not intelligent"?
  • Trasmatta5 hours ago
    > appearing to be human while having no actual intelligence?

    Isn't a P-zombie about consciousness, not intelligence?