ZANZIB(AI)R
essays masquerading as newsletters, my two cents, using functions to change system calls, meditate on being a student for eternity
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This is a daily standup post of the work put into maintaining bramadams.dev. Ex nihilo nihil fit.
Newsletter (Sundays)
- i felt like issue 41 was again a bit too lengthy, i'll be looking to concoct shorter pieces for the near future, more true to form with what i am reading, and choosing themes from
wander
in commonplace bot- truth be told, i like writing a essay per week and it seemed fitting to merge the work with the newsletter. but i must keep in mind that a newsletter needs to be enjoyable in the landscape it is consumed, an email inbox. substack has normalized the "essay in the inbox" problem i suppose. as long as the topics are interesting
- future large topics i want to cover:
- website as an art piece and art galley at the same time
- a creative technologist manifesto
- the cultural value of programmers and their programs
- a mathematical guess as to how much zero to one code will be written in the next century
Software (Saturdays)
![](https://www.bramadams.dev/content/images/2024/01/google-2c-1-1-1.jpeg)
AI Tip
Use system messages to change the functionality of the chat completion based on a function response
The idea is when a function call is fired and the data is returned, use system
role to simulate instructions to change how the function info is given to the user:
if (messages[0].role !== "system") {
messages.unshift({
content: "If you have knowledge loaded in from get_knowledge, you can ask me questions about it. If the match has steps, go through each step with the user in QA format, one by one.",
role: "system",
});
}
{
name: "get_knowledge",
description: "Get knowledge from user query from a knowledge base",
parameters: {
type: "object",
properties: {
query: {
type: "string",
description:
"The query -- cleaned up to match knowledge base criteria",
},
},
required: ["query"],
},
}
// ...
if (name === "get_knowledge") {
// ...
const knowledge = {...};
insert_specific_system_message(...) // insert a system message for this particular fn
const newMessages = createFunctionCallMessages(knowledge);
// ...
Books (5/month)
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links are affiliate! if you pick up a copy, i get a little kickback!
- Supergods - 77% (+1%)
- Black Rednecks & White Liberals - 58%
- Command & Control - 23%
- At Home in the Universe - 36%
- Napoleon: A Life - 46%
- Glass Bead Game - 41% (+3%)
- The everlasting dance between the pupil and the teacher, the roles merely shift
- River of the Gods - 25% (+4%)
- ZANZIBAR