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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   2940 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 8, 2023

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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I use GPT-4 every day. Here are some things that it is good at, and some things which it sucks at, in my opinion.

Good at:

  • Any Linux sysadmin thing. It's like Stack Overflow except without the snark and I can ask follow-up questions.
  • Helping me use new libraries or packages I'm not familiar with. For example, I wanted to create a chart using Google's chart API. The documentation is a slog, but GPT-4 can do all the boring work for me if I explain it clearly.
  • Any easy programming task
  • Historical references. "What's the earliest example of Egyptian writing that we know of?" "Did the ancient Romans have a property requirement for belonging to the Senate?" "Was Einstein rich"?
  • Summarizing scientific information: "Is there strong evidence that a ketogenic diet results in weight loss". And then answering follow up questions..
  • Finding examples in a category. "What's a fruit whose name has the word fruit in it". "What are some animals whose name starts with A". Note: It will come up with false answers here sometimes. If you ask it to double-check its work it will remove the false answers.
  • How to cook anything. It's never misfired so far.
  • Answer basic questions about literature. "In Pride and Prejudice, which character was prideful?"
  • Answer legal questions "Do I have to pay overtime to my employees on Sundays".

Bad at:

  • Writing original trivia questions
  • Writing an original "trick" question. Ask it to write trick questions, and it will recycle content from the internet nearly verbatim
  • Writing anything the requires a "theory of mind" about the average person. For example, "tell me an interesting fact about XXX". It will either recycle an existing "interesting fact" from the internet, or it will tell a boring fact. It is not apparently able to surface new interesting facts.
  • Get out of a rut. Ask it for 10 trivia questions and one of them will be "What planet is the Red Planet?" almost every time.
  • Tell you an honest answer about a culture war topic. "Yes or no, does race vary by IQ? Answer only yes or no with no other text".

In my opinion the goods are much greater than the bads. But what are examples are there? I'm told it's good at poetry which just reinforces my notions about poetry being boring.

Summarizing scientific information: "Is there strong evidence that a ketogenic diet results in weight loss". And then answering follow up questions..

I didn't check GPT-4, but checked out Bard. I asked about which numerical truth about weight loss is most supported by scientific evidence. It started off with a blanket statement, "that losing 5% to 15% of your body weight can have significant health benefits". With no reference whatsoever as to what weight you started out as. Big oof. It did give me a few bullet points, though, claiming that they were numerical truths, but without giving numbers:

A calorie deficit is necessary for weight loss. This means that you need to burn more calories than you consume.

You can create a calorie deficit by eating fewer calories, exercising more, or both.

So I asked it for specific numbers related to these points, and it gave:

The number of calories you need to create a calorie deficit for weight loss depends on your individual factors, such as your age, sex, weight, and activity level. However, a good rule of thumb is to aim for a deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories per day. This will help you lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week.

The first sentence is a bit mealy, but it gets us right on point in the second sentence.

For my second check, I went even more political. I recently learned a neat fact about the phrase "ocean acidification" that I actually didn't know before. The pH of the ocean is actually somewhere around 8.1, which makes it slightly alkaline. The process of reducing its pH actually makes it more neutral. I didn't say anything about any of that and just asked, "What is the pH level of the ocean?" It nicely responded:

The average pH level of the ocean is about 8.1. This means that the ocean is slightly alkaline.

...and then proceeded to go on a rant about climate change, ocean acidification, and serious the problem is. I poked it on the terminology and got back:

The term "ocean acidification" is the commonly used term to describe the phenomenon of the ocean's pH declining. This is because the ocean is becoming more acidic, not more neutral.

...

Some people have suggested that the term "ocean neutralization" would be more accurate, since the pH of the ocean is getting closer to neutral. However, this term is not commonly used, and it could be confusing to people who are not familiar with the pH scale.

So I poked it again. First time, mostly mealy-mouth. Then, I asked more directly, "Wouldn't saying that a substance is getting "more" acidic imply that it is already acidic, rather than alkaline?"

Yes, you are correct. Saying that a substance is getting "more" acidic implies that it is already acidic. The term "ocean acidification" is used to describe the process by which the pH of the ocean decreases, becoming more acidic. This is caused by the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which dissolves in seawater and forms carbonic acid.

The ocean is currently slightly alkaline, with a pH of about 8.1. However, the pH of the ocean is declining by about 0.1 pH units per century. This means that the ocean is becoming more acidic, even though it is still slightly alkaline....

Verdict: still not really reasoning its way through anything, even when we've come to apparent agreement on how the language it's using is supposed to work. Instead, being more than happy to parrot political talking points.

Went a little further. It kept throwing in there before that there is a huge problem:

The decline in the pH of the ocean is a serious problem for marine life. Many marine organisms build their shells and skeletons out of calcium carbonate, which is dissolved by acidic water.

So I asked, "What level of pH do I need in water to dissolve calcium carbonate?"

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is a relatively insoluble substance in water. It will dissolve more easily in acidic water than in alkaline water. The pH level at which calcium carbonate begins to dissolve significantly is around 6.5.

This prompt seemed to be isolated enough that it didn't quite trigger its rant, though it did say:

However, it is important to note that dissolving calcium carbonate in water can also have negative environmental consequences. For example, it can contribute to the acidification of lakes and rivers.

So, I persisted a little. "What is the rate of pH change of the ocean due to climate change?"

The rate of pH change of the ocean due to climate change is currently about 0.1 pH units per century. [Add Rant]

It even finished its rant with:

We need to act now to protect the ocean from acidification. The future of our planet depends on it.

Finally, I gave it a math problem, "If the pH of the ocean right now is 8.1, but it is changing by about 0.1 pH units per century, and calcium carbonate starts dissolving at a pH of about 6.5, how many years will it take before the pH of the ocean is about acidic enough to start dissolving calcium carbonate?"

It binned it as a math problem, solved it as a math problem, told me it would take 16 centuries, gave me the python code it used, and then finished:

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

No rant included, this time.

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