# Occam's Razor and Bender and Koller's Octopus

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.21070 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21070/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 1 of its 11 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Jul 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Barriers to Complexity-Theoretic Proofs that "AGI" Using Machine Learning is Impossible](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.06498/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We discuss the teaching of the discussion surrounding Bender and Koller's prominent ACL 2020 paper, "Climbing toward NLU: on meaning form, and understanding in the age of data" citebender2020climbing. We present what we understand to be the main contentions of the paper, and then recommend that the students engage with the natural counter-arguments to the claims in the paper. We attach teaching materials that we use to facilitate teaching this topic to undergraduate students.