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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   935 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 28, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Did Michael Jackson have vitiligo?

I asked ChatGPT 5.6 Sol on extra hard reasoning mode (lol) to give me an estimate of what percentage chance that Michael Jackson had vitiligo. It came back with 99%.

ChatGPT was relying on two pieces of evidence. One was from the autopsy, where the examining doctor noted vitiligo. The second piece of evidence was from his doctor who diagnosed him with this condition.

I pushed back, and suddenly that 99% became very squishy.

Some facts that are true as best as we can ascertain.

  1. Only about 0.2% of African-Americans have vitiligo
  2. Michael Jackson engaged in multiple plastic surgeries to alter his appearance
  3. Michael Jackson's doctors engaged in unethical treatments such as prescription of harmful drugs
  4. The depigmentation drug (monobenzone) that can be used to treat vitiligo can also cause vitiligo like appearance when taken by a non-affected person
  5. There are no known pictures of Jackson pre-1990 (age 31) with Vitiligo like symptoms
  6. Half of people with vitiligo develop symptoms before age 20
  7. People much prefer the explanation that Jackson had vitiligo than the alternative explanation that Jackson wanted to look white

Isn't the more likely explanation that Jackson's quack doctor gave him monobenzone to lighten his skin?

Presented with all this, Chat-GPT apologized profusely and lowered its confidence level to 20-40%. I'd go lower, personally.

In any case, in terms of epistemics, I don't think LLMs are competitive with top human autists.

I'm sure he had vitiligo.

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