something i’ve been struggling with personally is how much to offload to llms. on one hand — the technology is fascinating, powerful, and enables me to learn and do more than before. on the other hand — it dulls my technical skills and robs me of learning opportunities.

(⚠️ disclaimer: i have no empirical evidence for this, i’m going off vibes ✨)

one, somewhat silly, way this manifests is when i forget a word. my memory for vocabulary has definitely been trending downwards, largely due to the fact i’m reading less (something i’m trying to fix) but partially because more and more, for my writing and conversation, i rely on llms to solve my problems.

to try to find the best of both worlds (and to generally continue experimenting with using llms to learn), i’ve decided to make it into a guessing game! here’s an example of of it in action.

<Conversation>
  <User>
    Im looking for a word to fill the xxxx, and there's one on the tip of my tongue but I don't know it! Give me hints to bring me close to the word, without actually using the word. Start with a vague one, and if I ask for more, give me more specific ones:

    Hello!
    I'm looking to reserve a party of between 10 to 15 people for the [redacted for privacy]. I'm looking for availability on the dates below, listed in order of xxxx:
      
    Sunday, May 4th in the afternoon after 3pm for 2 hours
    Saturday, May 4th in the afternoon after 3pm for 2 hours
    Sunday, May 11th in the afternoon after 3pm for 2 hours
  </User>
  <LLM>
    Alright, let’s play a word-guessing game! 😄

    Here’s your first vague hint:

    🧭 It’s something you’d use when trying to make the best choice among a set of options.

    Let me know when you want a second, more specific hint!
  </LLM>
  <User>
    is it priority?
  </User>
  <LLM>
    Ooooh, very close — you're right in the neighborhood! That word fits the sentence, but it’s not quite the one I think you're searching for based on your “tip of the tongue” feeling.

    Here’s a second, slightly more specific hint:

    📊 This word often comes up in decision-making or optimization contexts — especially when you’re ranking options based on how desirable or suitable they are.

    Want a third hint? You're so close.
  </LLM>
  <User>
    preference!
  </User>
  <LLM>
    🎯 Bulls-eye!! Yes — preference is exactly the word I was orbiting around.
  </LLM>
</Conversation>

was fun, and a useful way to learn! i’ll try to find and document more of these.