It kind of is an explanation though - the explanation is that they believed the stochastic parrot / "just" next token prediction nonsense, and that those are actually not true.
You can ask for a deeper explanation of why they aren't true I guess.
I'm just surprised that so many intellectuals on HN hang on to false models of reality for so long after that reality has been demonstrably destroyed. It's not humble at all. In fact it's the opposite, completely arrogant and stubborn. It's been obvious and demonstrated at least since the end of 2025 for anybody that used LLMs at any capacity without dismissing them. If you are still surprised that your model of reality doesn't hold up, then someone needs to bluntly tell you what's wrong at the core of your being.
Notice the original comment is asking people to validate their false premise about next token prediction.
The deeper subtext of the original comment is that they are surprised that there's dissonance from observed reality and this false premise that they have convinced themself is true.
I'm explaining that dissonance because it doesn't matter what the actual mechanism is if they are still working with their false premise. The dissonance exists because they, without evidence and a very weak understanding of how LLMs work, believed an oversimplification and meme about them being stochastic parrots. Here's a tip: Just because you hear something repeated over and over on social media, doesn't mean it's true, or at the very least: you don't need to take it literally to the point where it conflicts with demonstrated reality.
It is deeply disturbing that such a large cohort of HN writers and redditors exemplify such stubbornness, because I must imagine that some of this cohort hold real positions of responsibility within society. If you can't get this simple thing right about reality, I firmly believe much of your model of reality is wrong and you should have no business shaping society.
Another comment to the original comment frames it perfectly: "At what point do you challenge your own assumptions?"
The author of the original comment has demonstrated no progress towards making this trivial act of self reflection. It's straight up intellectual dishonesty, the opposite of how you're framing it.
Their judgment in all other matters must be questioned as well. I am alarmed that I have to participate in the same reality and be affected by such people that can't seem to get it together.
So yes, it is derision and sometimes that's called for.
