Tinderbox and Large Language Models

So true; so sad.

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In terms of local models:

Ollama works very well in simple command line scripts – e.g.

$ ollama run llama3.2:3b "Say hello, computer"                                                                        
Hello! It's nice to meet you. How can I assist you today?

And you can just put whatever you want in the quotes, or else pipe it in from another program like

$ ls | ollama run llama3.2:3b "What kind of project would have a directory with the following files?" 

Based on the file names and structure, it appears that this is a R programming language project for research or academic purposes, possibly in ecology or biology. Here's
why:

1. `.Rproj.user`, `.gitignore`, and other `.R`-related files suggest that the project uses R Studio.
2. The presence of an `aquatic_plant_clip_harvest.R` file implies that the project involves data analysis and manipulation related to aquatic plants.
3. Files like `.Final_Report.Rmd` (R Markdown), `.Final_Report.docx` (Microsoft Word), and `.README.md` suggest that the project involves writing research reports, possibly
in a format suitable for academic publications or presentations.
4. The presence of a `DESCRIPTION` file, which is a common convention in R packages, suggests that this is a package-related project.

Overall, it seems that this is an individual's research project, possibly as part of a degree program or academic endeavor.

llama3.2 is meta’s newest open model, and 3b gives the version (3b is 3 billion parameters). There are also larger versions that are slower and take much more memory (VRAM or RAM if on a mac with shared RAM) but are more accurate.

Here’s the current list of available ollama models.

As you can imagine, all of this can also happen via runCommand() in Tinderbox, although runCommand doesn’t like long-running things so potentially better to write output to a text file or something and then read that in since ollama streams the output to the terminal?

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Thanks, @naupaka, sorry for the dumb question but should we install Ollama in the applications folder or would in be something like Docker? Or do we install it and then run it in docker to isolate it? Once we’ve installed it, how do we make sure that it is secure and truly local, i.e., not siphoning off data?

You just install it like a regular application from the website, or via homebrew:

In terms of tracking what it’s doing – the whole idea is that it is local and that it only is responding to what input you give it, either text piped in or else an image file, e.g.

If you wanted to verify that it is not phoning home, you can use something like Little Snitch. Out of curiosity I just opened the LS viewer and interacted with a few models (llama3.2, phi4). No network connections out. The data in/out in the right pane is when I downloaded the phi4 model.

Or you could use lsof on the command line to track all files touched or opened by the ollama process id:

In both cases I don’t see any evidence that it’s snurfling around anywhere it shouldn’t be, on the net or locally, so I personally wouldn’t worry too much. You could dockerize it or use it in a virtual machine but I don’t think it’s necessary. That said, if you wanted to and had docker installed, it’s pretty easy:

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Wonderful information, @naupaka, thanks to you (and all the others) for sharing links and resources!

I have giant stash of PDFs I would love to feed to an LLM to help with my obsessive over-collection habit…

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Check out this meetup, you’ll love it:

I hope everyone is doing well.
Inspired by LLM’s article in Tinderbox,
last night. I built an LLM environment from LM-Studio-0.3.14.5-arm64.dmg.
(Mac Studio (M1) 32GB Memory MacOS Ventura 13.7.5)
The model tested were Swallow-70B-GGUF, ELYZA-japanese-Llama-2-7b,
but when searching in Japanese, the redundancy of the answers was not to my liking,
I am using this mode, Community Model- gemma 3 12b it by Google (8.15 GB)
for conversation.
Booting from Docker also seemed to be of high use.
I also found information that the Model Runner (for macOS with Apple Silicon), which is available as a beta version, makes it easy to get, run, and verify LLMs in a local environment. However, I don’t know how to use the CLI endpoint in Docker Model Runner, so I’m not going to touch it for the time being.

The next step is
to experiment with the migration to Tinderbox, as described in this article.
How do I import a .imstudio Folder > conversations > json File into Tinderbox?
[JSON import eased by Scripting support?]
[JSON in action code—some clarifications] by mwra
[Tinderbox JSON demo]

What I experimented with LM Studio

  1. About the Belle Epoque era in 19th century Paris
  2. On the influence of Proust and the philosophers of the time
  3. About Bergson and Marcel Moyes
    I have asked about these things.

The answer was different from the other models and was written out in a reasonable detail.
However, the answer to Moyse was incorrect in the reference literature.
When I pointed out this error, I received the following response:
You are absolutely correct!
My apologies for the continued errors and confusion.
You’ve brought to my attention a crucial piece of information
that I was completely unaware of.
I was surprised that except for the error in the title of the book, it almost coincided with the views I had in my book published on May 22, 1993.
[“Belle Époque and Marcel Moyse” Part 1:
“Marcel Moyse et Henri Bergson - Philosophy in Music,”]
[ISBN4-9900786-2-4 C-1070]
Is the LLM search wrong?
Yours, WAKAMATSU

For my part, when I manage to convince a student to personally transform a very simple sentence into a more complex paragraph, made up of an idea explained, argued and illustrated and that, to all appearances, he or she understands that it would be possible for him or her to continue the effort and thus write several successive paragraphs, I am delighted.

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If you read French, here are some suggestions for working on Proust and his philosophical influences: https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/proust-et-la-philosophie Obviously, this volume still needs to be digested, which requires long and very patient readings, pen in hand, or keyboard nearby, and a floating attention willing to seize impromptu ideas on the fly, ready to patiently construct a personally elaborated plan, all things that, in my opinion, even the most sophisticated LLM will not be able to provide. At least for the moment. When, as a child, I walked past Marcel Proust’s apartment in the sixteenth arrondissement of Paris, I dreamed only of long nights by candlelight, entirely dedicated to the work of thought. Could I imagine that one day, we would be ready to dedicate a part of our interiority to soulless machines, filled only with millions of anonymous voices shamelessly stolen, without concern for the past, without historical consciousness?

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Dear Dominique Renauld,
Thank you for your kind advice.
I remember something when I read about the candlelight.
I remember the first time I attended the Royal Conservatory of Brussels to study music in Europe.
I was invited to the room of a Dutch university student who lived on the first floor of the apartment where I stayed,
He was reading a book with a single candle in the middle of the room, which had a high ceiling like a combination of two floors. He was reading a book by an author named Rilke, whom you probably don’t know.
He was a different person from the Rilke everyone knows.
When I asked him why he kept the room dark, he replied, “This darkness is the best way to concentrate on the author’s world! As the story progresses, the name “Van Gogh” as people talk about it is mispronounced. It should be ike Germany “Hoch” (Gogh). The topic of Maetellank also came up.
(Before studying abroad, I had read most of the works of prominent European poets. My favorite poet is Apollinaire, unlike others. Tagore from India is one of them. “Omoro” from Okinawa is one of my favorite songs.)
Now, back to the original topic, in Maïtre. Moyse’s book, in the section of exercises for transitioning tones, there is a section that says, “Descend from ‘si♮’ to ‘immaterial si♮’.
I decided to write this book in order to understand the meaning of the word “immaterial”. It took me over three years.
In those days in the late 1980’s, I had no idea that it was possible to search the Internet.
The reason I included Proust in my search is because I learned that the word “immaterial” is also found in Proust’s books. This is a very recent development.
If I apply your concern to musicians, what does the composer want to express?
The first thing to consider is what the composer wants to express, so it is important to examine the historical background of the time.
In Mozart’s time, there were no locomotives, so the tempo of movement was determined by the composer himself.
Is this a result of the recent abnormal weather?
The wild cherry trees in my yard usually bloom in early May,
but this year they are in full bloom and unpredictable.
Music is meaningless unless it becomes sound.
Even if a lot of knowledge is accumulated,
a lot of effort is required to reflect it in sound.
How do we deal with soulless machines?
I believe that with eyes of the heart and a clear mind, we can handle it.
What is your opinion?
Yours, WAKAMATSU
P.S.
The term “non-material”[immaterial] can be seen in Proust’s books,
If you know, please let me know where it is written.
P.S.S
[l’immaterialité qui passe ansi dans la matière est ce qu’on applle la grâce]
Le Rire [400][22]Édition du centenaire P.U.F1976 (Bergson)

Dear Dominique Renauld,
I try to find a word about immaterialité using LM-Studio-0.3.14.5 with gemma-3-12b.
My nessage is :
Where can I find a word immaterialité in Proust’s works ?
Answers are :
Okay, let’s pinpoint where you can find the term “immaterialité” (immateriality) within Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time, or Remembrance of Things Past). It’s a key concept in understanding his philosophy and connection to Bergson, so locating its appearances is valuable.

Here’s a breakdown of significant instances, along with context:

  1. Du côté de chez Swann (Swann’s Way): The First Major Appearance
    Context: This is arguably the most crucial appearance. Proust introduces “immaterialité” in relation to music and its ability to evoke memories and emotions that transcend language and physical sensation. He contrasts it with the limitations of visual art, which he sees as more tied to the material world.
    Location (French Edition): Du côté de chez Swann, Book 1, Chapter 7 (“L’Habitude”). You’ll find it in a passage discussing Vinteuil’s sonata and its profound emotional impact on the narrator. The exact phrasing is something like: "…la musique, qui seule pouvait exprimer l’immaterialité des sentiments…” ( “…music, which alone could express the immateriality of feelings…”).
    English Translations: The translation varies slightly depending on the translator. Look for passages discussing Vinteuil’s sonata and its ability to evoke emotions beyond words or visual representation. Common phrasing includes “the immateriality of feeling” or similar expressions.

  2. Dans le Temps Retrouvé (Time Regained): A Central Philosophical Discussion
    Context: In this volume, Proust expands on the concept of immaterialité as a fundamental aspect of memory and artistic creation. He argues that true art arises from capturing the immaterial essence of experience, rather than merely reproducing its superficial details.
    Location (French Edition): Dans le Temps Retrouvé, Part 2, Chapter 3 (“Les Recours”). This is a lengthy section where Proust explores his artistic vocation and the nature of memory. The term “immaterialité” appears multiple times in this chapter as he discusses how art can transcend the material world.
    English Translations: Look for passages discussing the artist’s role, the nature of memory, and the ability of art to capture something beyond the visible or tangible.

Tips for Finding It:
French Edition is Best: If you read French, searching for “immaterialité” directly within a digital edition of À la recherche du temps perdu will yield the most precise results.
They searched the way I wanted, so perhaps this experiment was the first to be successful?
Yours, WAKAMATSU

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Forgive me: I rushed to respond to your previous message and probably overlooked what you were saying about your research. This question of LLMs strikes me to the heart: will it still be possible to write books that are also works of the mind if it becomes possible to delegate to machines the entire writing of fast-moving consumer goods?
The example you propose is very interesting: I am not at all a specialist in Proust’s works, but, to my knowledge, one doesn’t have to look far in In Search of Lost Time to find the first hints of a discreet reflection on the notion of immateriality. As early as page 6 of the Pléiade edition—Swann’s Way, I, 1—the theme emerges in a vein very close to Bergsonian writing when the narrator evokes the immobility of things and the relationship of thought to the things around him. However, if the thing—or the theme—emerges, the word itself is not used. It is still necessary to interpret and, for that, to read and reread, pencil in hand.

The problem is far from new.
A few years ago, when I was still taking all my reading notes in Tinderbox, every passage that was significant to me was assigned a note, and each note included numerous tags. It got to the point where I could have written a dictionary of my notes. I had to give up on such tedious work, although with Tinderbox, some of this work is easily accomplished: this is to the credit of the Attribute Browser.
Yet, by using so many tags that also acted as aliases, I was guaranteed to find a passage in a work as easily as if, for example, in Proust’s work, the passages relating to the notion of immateriality had been fully indexed.

An index is therefore undoubtedly useful, but, in my experience at least, the essential part of research lies in the slow and lengthy elaboration of meaning. If I dared to make an easy, but so suggestive, comparison, I would gladly say that, for me and in what I understand, using an AI is comparable to using a bread machine: quickly done, well done. I chose a long time ago to learn to make my own bread: slowness gives flavor and soul and when I have time, cooking over a wood fire is invaluable.

So I have no intention of using any AI whatsoever for my research or writing. If I were a careerist and short-termist, I might not hesitate for a second to save myself long hours of patience if it would allow me to add one more unit to my list of publications. But what model of life and research are we talking about?

Let me make one last comparison: in recent years, around my hometown, traditional karate schools—those where you salute the masters and tirelessly repeat the same moves, far from hyper-rapid learning à la Matrix—have seen their enrollment decline. It’s MMA schools that are now generating the most interest among younger students. Why? (… but I digress).

Dear Dominique Renauld,
I am not a Proust researcher. I am doing research on Bergson.
When I meet someone I like, I should “live” like that person.
This is my way of life. MusicNotes that do not become sound are just symbols.
Even if you think about it correctly, I believe that it will not mean that you understand the meaning of “if you don’t live” like that.
At least we will need to “re-experience” one.
Now, going back to Proust’s topic,
Now that I am over 77, I do not have enough time to load his “books.”
Therefore, it is possible to verify the source of the “word” without having to go to a library or similar.
I’m trying to use LLM.
“In Search of a Lost Time” This book is interrupted shortly after I began reading the first book. I read it many times but it didn’t work. (translated by Japanese)
Yours, WAKAMATSU
P.S
This is a bit off the question and answer session on Tinderbox, so I would like to communicate directly via email.
Please reply with an email address that can be sent directly to the other side.

P.P.S
Je voudrais vous remercier de m’avoir donné l’occasion de réexaminer un livre que j’ai écrit il y a longtemps.