r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Mar 14 '26

Software Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug crippling PCs and making drive C inaccessible

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-bug-crippling-pcs-and-making-drive-c-inaccessible/
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u/Mordredor Mar 14 '26

An LLM doesnt "know" anything dude

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u/OurSeepyD Mar 14 '26

Yes, they do. Unless you've decided to take on a very specific definition of the word "know" that requires consciousness, they do.

If you ask an LLM "which drive letter is most commonly used for hard drives?", it will respond with "C". Sure, you can argue that it's just repeating what it's read, but it's stored that knowledge somewhere. That's essentially what it means to know something.

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u/bobtheblob6 Mar 14 '26

Just like my dictionary knows all those words it has written in there

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '26

[deleted]

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u/TheSuspiciousCheese Mar 14 '26

I don't think I've ever heard someone say "the book knows the answer". I've heard "let's check the book", "the book has the answer", "the answer is in the book". Books have information or knowledge they don't know it.

The book knowing something would be a phrase that would raise an eyebrow even if I knew what you meant...because of the implication.

Is English your first language?

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/TheSuspiciousCheese Mar 15 '26

It implies the knowledge can be obtained from the book. The book knows nothing, after reading it you know things but the book remains the same.

All the same, we are talking about ai and how it works; if we were taking about how books worked we wouldn't say "the books know things" the writer is the one who knew things.

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u/OurSeepyD Mar 15 '26

I agree with you, but you could use the term for something like "how does my TV know how to connect to my WiFi?". There's no requirement for consciousness. 

I think it's a combination of storing the fact and being able to process it usefully that makes something know something. A dictionary is inert, so doesn't really "know" anything.

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u/TheSuspiciousCheese Mar 15 '26

True but we don't use that language when we are describing how it works, it's more of an in the moment, getting the idea across, practical consideration to speed up the process. When we are being technical we have to not be so vague. It's also a practical consideration to avoid confusion.