ChatGPT

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . The focus in humanities education will have to shift from the final written product to writing as an iterative process with evidence of student thinking and planning. . . .

That's what blue books are good for. You have thirty minutes to write about something. Start writing.

That's a final written product. Turns out classrooms are good for something, after all.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Oh come now. You know people said the same thing about trains and writing

Absolutely!

And they were right. Coal-fired trains were the original driver of climate change. Members of non-literate cultures (and people who can't read in general, like dyslexics) are far better at memorizing, recollection.

Those cultures are also better at passing down traditions, mores, and a sense of belonging than literate cultures. Since 1900, how many of history's worst wars started in Europe, home of the Renaissance and birthplace of the industrial revolution? How many more were started by Europeans?

Every automatic supermarket checkout, self-serve gas pump, and EZPass toll booth is a job lost. For an entertaining take on that, you might read Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano.

My old friend and punk band leader Hank Hoffman said it best: "If it weren't for electric guitars, I'd be a Luddite."

 

[PoorNoodle]

I asked it to write a blues in Am for guitar:

Here is a 12-bar blues in the key of A minor that you can play on electric guitar:

Verse: Am Am Am Am I woke up this morning, feeling low Am Am Am Am My baby was gone, and I don't know where to go

Chorus: F C Oh, the blues is knocking on my door G Am I can't take it no more

Verse: Am Am Am Am I called her up, but she don't pick up the phone Am Am Am Am I guess I'll just have to be alone

Chorus: F C Oh, the blues is knocking on my door G Am I can't take it no more

Bridge: G Am I tried to shake it, but the feeling won't go away G Am I guess I'll just have to play the blues all day

Chorus: F C Oh, the blues is knocking on my door G Am I can't take it no more

Outro: Am Am Am Am The blues is knocking on my door Am Am Am Am I can't take it no more

 

[maxvintage]

I tried it with standard US history questions somebody might have to write about like "Why did the Populist Party fail in 1896" or more obscure ones, like "what was the position of the loco focos regarding a central bank?"

In both cases it came up with plausible sounding answers that were completely banal. Like Wikipedia had written the answer, or like a college freshman who understood grammar had written it using Wikipedia. Like "failure to develop effective leadership" or "failure to adapt to changing conditions." These are both lame psuedo answers.

There's lots of gnashing of teeth about how this will lead to plagiarism and nobody will write an essay anymore. I'm 100% sure it will lead to plagiarism, but what I took out of it was how much of writing is really banal crap, common knowledge that says little or nothing of substance. The lesson for me was "ask better questions." Demand actual answers.

 

[dswo]

There's lots of gnashing of teeth about how this will lead to plagiarism and nobody will write an essay anymore. I'm 100% sure it will lead to plagiarism, but what I took out of it was how much of writing is really banal crap, common knowledge that says little or nothing of substance.

That's my impression too. I'm still not sure what to do about it. As of now, AIs can write papers that I would give a C to. I've toyed with the idea of eliminating all essay grades under a B-: do better than the AI, or get nothing. But I don't like that idea: I get a range of students, and grades should reflect that range. Also, it might imply to some that everyone who gets less than a B- would have cheated, which I know isn't true.

Handwritten blue books are one solution, and would have some other benefits. But students are out of practice writing legible longhand, and many (most?) don't know cursive.

When I hand out syllabi in a week and a half, I'm going to omit the usually-detailed grading standards for papers. I won't mind telling the students: I'm still figuring this out, and want to have more conversation with teachers I respect.

 

[imwjl]

Absolutely!

And they were right. Coal-fired trains were the original driver of climate change. Members of non-literate cultures (and people who can't read in general, like dyslexics) are far better at memorizing, recollection.

Those cultures are also better at passing down traditions, mores, and a sense of belonging than literate cultures. Since 1900, how many of history's worst wars started in Europe, home of the Renaissance and birthplace of the industrial revolution? How many more were started by Europeans?

Every automatic supermarket checkout, self-serve gas pump, and EZPass toll booth is a job lost. For an entertaining take on that, you might read Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano.

My old friend and punk band leader Hank Hoffman said it best: "If it weren't for electric guitars, I'd be a Luddite."

Some of us in grocery tech joke about the self-checkouts because the public is daft to how unreliable they are, how expensive they are, and the support needed to keep them going. Customers demand them too. They are also an expensive way to help the staffing challenges.

 

[billy logan]

What would happen if PoorNoodle post#23 tried to copyright that A minor blues? Or me or anybody, having seen post #23?

yeah yeah, the melody is yet-to-be-determined, but, do you get my drift? Do I send a percentage of the royalties to onezandzeroes Inc.?

btw A minor blues needs a D minor chord in there somewhere and mebbe also an F Major7 and an E7

edit2add: and maybe some flavor of a B chord, also.

 

[tfarny]

I assume it's from the internet. No? Where else?

No, although a big chunk of the internet is "in there." It's called a large language model. It's going to change the world maybe as much as the internet has.
- not "Chatgpt" specifically but these newer AI applications.

Here's what I just asked chatgpt, and what it came up with in 5 seconds:

"Write the lyrics for a bad country music song."

Verse 1 I'm sittin' here in my pickup truck My dog's lyin' on the dash I'm just sippin' on my beer Thinkin' 'bout my ex-girlfriend

Chorus She done left me broken-hearted She done left me all alone I just never could understand Why she had to go

Verse 2 I went to the bar last night Lookin' for someone to talk to But no one seemed to understand Just how broken I felt

Chorus She done left me broken-hearted She done left me all alone I just never could understand Why she had to go

Verse 3 I drove out to the lake Just to clear my head But all I could think about Was what she said

Chorus She done left me broken-hearted She done left me all alone I just never could understand Why she had to go

 

[pixeljammer]

Some of us in grocery tech joke about the self-checkouts because the public is daft to how unreliable they are, how expensive they are, and the support needed to keep them going. Customers demand them too. They are also an expensive way to help the staffing challenges.

I’m curious about “customers demand them”. I’m 55, upper-middle-class, live in Colorado, and in any conversation I’ve ever had about them, all agree that they suck. What is the demographic which demands them?

 

[El Tele Lobo]

I'm pretty sure this doo-dad wrote the article on pickups aging and dying in another thread. It's already started. What happens when TDPRI becomes self-aware?

 

[edvard]

A few years ago, I would find myself with stream-of-consciousness idea in my head, usually no more than a few sentences, like a snippet of a remembered dream, and for some reason, commit it to paper. I asked ChatGPT to finish a few of them, and the results were predictable. Maybe an A-list High School senior could have cranked out what it wrote, but no better. You know when you watch a TV show or read a short story and you know what's going to happen, whether it's because the cliché is so obvious, or you got the entire plot from the first 10 minutes of dialog? Yeah, it's like that. Not necessarily bad, I mean, it is actually coherent and readable, but like @maxvintage said; banal.

 

[boop]

My old friend and punk band leader Hank Hoffman said it best: "If it weren't for electric guitars, I'd be a Luddite."

Well I think the cat is out of the bag when it comes to applied science and engineering to being the force shaping our society. As for technology and automation "taking away jobs", yeah it is painful for people to lose their jobs, but I don't think any given job being created then destroyed by human development is inherently bad. Some guy doesn't come around with a wagon to deliver ice to my house, sucks for him I guess.

I agree that a lot of our technology has big downsides for people/society/planet, but I also find it interesting that we are in a period of time of transition. Nothing changed around here for tens of thousands of years, then BAM, we have guitars and put men on the moon and made a hole in the ozone layer.

What happens when TDPRI becomes self-aware?

ChatGPT: It is not possible for TDPRI (The Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue) to become self aware because it is a forum or online platform, not a living organism. Forums do not have the biological or cognitive capabilities to exhibit self-awareness, as self-awareness is a trait that is generally only found in highly advanced animals and humans.

TDPRI is a forum for discussing telecaster guitars and related topics. It is simply a platform or software program that allows people to communicate and share information online. It does not have the ability to think, feel, or perceive its surroundings in the way that living organisms do. Therefore, it cannot become self aware.

phew

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . ChatGPT: It is not possible for TDPRI (The Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue) to become self aware because it is a forum or online platform, not a living organism. . . .

Plus we're all a bunch of idiots.

 

[WalthamMoosical]

Am Am Am Am I woke up this morning

Jeezum crow what tense is that supposed to be? Future rediculative? Back to the drawing board, ChatGPT. And work on that stutter.

 

[imwjl]

That's my impression too. I'm still not sure what to do about it. As of now, AIs can write papers that I would give a C to. I've toyed with the idea of eliminating all essay grades under a B-: do better than the AI, or get nothing. But I don't like that idea: I get a range of students, and grades should reflect that range. Also, it implies that everyone who gets less than a B- would have cheated, which I know isn't true.

Handwritten blue books are one solution, and would have some other benefits. But students are out of practice writing legible longhand, and many (most?) don't know cursive.

Some students but not all. Our 3 college students use Blue Books, and electronic exams that are adaptive separate those who know it or are very competent. Kids I know in other institutions have it the same.

I’m curious about “customers demand them”. I’m 55, upper-middle-class, live in Colorado, and in any conversation I’ve ever had about them, all agree that they suck. What is the demographic which demands them?

Our small chain are stores most would characterize as high end or local focus but we sell national brands and general merchandize too. They might suck but many customers ask for self-check systems as a point of isolation or privacy and speed.

Even with much better wage and benefits (20-25% increases over about 4 years now) we still struggle to staff lanes and customers who appreciate our stores also understand well run SCOs help that. We try to staff the grouped SCOs with more than the typical 1 person and are getting customers out faster.

We hate them. They are expensive, less reliable and with high support and training costs so consider it a hate like you might have for some power tools or other machines in our lives.

 

[ahiddentableau]

Pretty neat. It's fun to play with. It will tell me about the war of 1812, but it won't tell me how to make LSD .

You missed the boat on that one. After its release it took a matter of mere minutes for people to figure out and publicize multiple ways to defeat the safeguards and get the thing churning out instructions for how to cook meth.

 

[ahiddentableau]

I tried it with standard US history questions somebody might have to write about like "Why did the Populist Party fail in 1896" or more obscure ones, like "what was the position of the loco focos regarding a central bank?"

In both cases it came up with plausible sounding answers that were completely banal.

Yup. This is probably the biggest problem atm. The other problem when you ask more complicated or less obvious questions is that it will straight up lie to you. Just makes @#$! up. It'll can sound plausible but if have some knowledge of the subject you know it's nonsense almost immediately.

But there's every reason to believe that this problem will go away with more flops/training. They say GPT-4 is expected to be released in the next six months. It wouldn't surprise me if that version puts a big dent in this problem, and that this time next year we're all shaking our heads at how good it is. If it's not GPT-4 it still won't be too far off. It's coming.

 

[Willie Johnson]

I used it a few weeks back just to try it out--I asked it to write me talking points on why cherry pie is good, and why cherry pie is bad, and the answers were passable. I watched a video by a doctor using it to write an insurance denial appeal letter as a way to save time (with citations from academic literature) and thought that was very clever.

 

[Deeve]

Additional chat questions -
Any of the regular threads here:
How 'bout this tone wood?
Does this relic make me look legit?
Why did the mods send me away for a month?

 

[dswo]

One of my former students posted this on Facebook: "If you're not teaching your children how to use AI tools, they will not be competitive for most high paying jobs of their adulthood." I think he's right. But the transition to that world is going to have some bumps.

On the bland style of AI prose: I wonder whether it will make us more aware of the cliches in our everyday communication? Will we recoil, collectively, at saying things that are so predictable? Or will we relax into it? Even before this, many people have believed that free will is an illusion and language is doing our "thinking" for us. That has never felt true to me, but I'm sure that idea is going to win more converts in the immediate future.