This is a very interesting introduction to a blog post, but... I'm somehow missing the actual blog post. How does this stuff work in practice? What are some concrete examples? How does one get from JavaScript tokenizing things in a commit hook to validating that the LLM didn't disable tests it didn't agree with, or any other helpful property?
Basically what I’ve been saying since OldJob forced LLMs down our throats and pegging performance to usage metrics: why the fuck are we handing deterministic processes to probabilistic systems when it should be the other way around (using probabilistic systems to design deterministic ones)?
LLMS should be abstracted out of a process as soon as practicable, replaced with deterministic processes or procedures. Otherwise you’ve built the world’s most fragile process at the mercy of token cost, vendor hostility, geopolitics, and model deprecation.
Humans aren't deterministic. Determinism is a red herring. There are lots of other problems with agentic programming, but this is not at the top of the list.
Three commits in one day fixing the same bug, the bug is still there, or about the same place as before. That is the actual problem. Not connected to determinism at all, except I want bugs to be fixed deterministically.
This is a very interesting introduction to a blog post, but... I'm somehow missing the actual blog post. How does this stuff work in practice? What are some concrete examples? How does one get from JavaScript tokenizing things in a commit hook to validating that the LLM didn't disable tests it didn't agree with, or any other helpful property?
I am the author. I am trying to limit one post to one page. Most people here are reading "reasoning" all day, I am afraid. Might get tired.
I also aspire to make one post a day. To be continued.
Makes sense, I have had the biggest wins with AI by attacking nondeterminism whenever possible.
BTW, you should probably fix the Beagle link on your homepage: https://replicated.live/beagle/
Basically what I’ve been saying since OldJob forced LLMs down our throats and pegging performance to usage metrics: why the fuck are we handing deterministic processes to probabilistic systems when it should be the other way around (using probabilistic systems to design deterministic ones)?
LLMS should be abstracted out of a process as soon as practicable, replaced with deterministic processes or procedures. Otherwise you’ve built the world’s most fragile process at the mercy of token cost, vendor hostility, geopolitics, and model deprecation.
I love the way you put this. Are there any sites or forums or places where people discuss/hash this out?
I've genuinely never considered it from this angle before.
Humans aren't deterministic. Determinism is a red herring. There are lots of other problems with agentic programming, but this is not at the top of the list.
Three commits in one day fixing the same bug, the bug is still there, or about the same place as before. That is the actual problem. Not connected to determinism at all, except I want bugs to be fixed deterministically.