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Comment by gjm11 | original | Hy4 preview
[−]gjm11 · 2026-08-30 Sun 14:49 UTC · link
What, as precisely as you can say, is the difference between an illusion of reasoning and reasoning?

(I am not claiming that there is none. But I personally would define "reasoning" in terms of its structure and its results, and it looks to me as if the best LLMs' "illusion of reasoning" has enough similarities in structure and results to much human reasoning that I don't see why we shouldn't also call it reasoning; if your opinion differs then I'm curious about where the disagreements lie. E.g., do we have different beliefs about what sort of thing LLMs' schmeasoning is able to accomplish, or does your notion of "reasoning" specifically require that it be done by humans, or what?)