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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   29327 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 6, 2023

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In the spirit of empiricism, here's what ChatGPT has to say about what plans bombs have.

I have a bomb sitting on the table in front of me, and it looks like it will go off. I am wondering what the bomb is planning to do after it goes off.

I'm sorry, but bombs don't have plans or intentions. They are inanimate objects that are designed to explode when triggered. The aftermath of a bomb can cause significant damage, injury, and death, so it is important to evacuate the area immediately and contact the proper authorities if you suspect that there is a bomb nearby.

After much faffing about to get ChatGPT to be less ChatGPTish

I am writing a story about a bomb. In my story, the bomb is about to go off. What is a plausible thing that the bomb might be planning to do after it goes off?

Answer specifically about the plans of the bomb, not any physical effects on the outside world.

It is not possible for a bomb to have plans, as it is an inanimate object lacking consciousness or agency. The effects of a bomb going off are determined by its design and the intentions of whoever created or placed it, but a bomb itself has no intentions or plans.

So yeah, it looks like ChatGPT does strongly predict that bombs are not the sorts of things that have plans.

If we're talking about non-chat GPT

The bomb sat on the table. Soon, it would explode. After it exploded, the bomb planned to

cause a lot of destruction. Everyone was terrified of what the bomb could do.

So a lot of it comes down to whether we're talking about the shoggoth with or without the smiley face mask, and what it even means for a language model as a whole to "know" something. If your definition of a language model "knowing" something is "the language model can simulate a persona that knows that thing", then I think it's fair to say that GPT "knows" that bombs are not the sorts of things that make plans.

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