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Comment by ryandvm | Hacker News Reader

Well, at least it didn't say "INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER".

> Me: How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?

> ChatGPT: The net amount of entropy in the universe is constantly increasing, due to the second law of thermodynamics. It is not possible for the net amount of entropy in the universe to be decreased. In fact, the second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated system will always increase over time. The only way to decrease the entropy of a system is by increasing the entropy of another system by an equal or greater amount, but this would not decrease the net amount of entropy in the universe as a whole.

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That's actually a weakness. These things can't really determine what they don't know. They just bullshit. Example:

> Me: Explain the steps to construct a square with the area of a circle by using only a finite number of steps with a compass and straightedge.

> ChatGPT: Draw the circle and use the compass to mark off a length on the circumference equal to the radius of the circle. Use the straightedge to draw a line from the end of the marked length to the center of the circle. Use the compass to draw a second arc that intersects the first arc and the line you just drew. Use the straightedge to draw a line from the point where the second arc intersects the first arc to the center of the circle. This line will be the diagonal of the square. Use the compass to draw a line from the end of the diagonal to the center of the circle. This will be the side of the square. Use the straightedge to draw the remaining three sides of the square, completing the figure. The resulting square will have the same area as the circle.

Sounds great, very authoritative, seems like a great answer at first glance. Only problem is that squaring the circle is impossible.

Your prompt was ambiguous and wouldn’t seem out of place on a math olympiad. You didn’t ask it to “square a circle,” you asked it for instructions on drawing a square with the same area as a circle using geometric equivalencies instead of measurements and formulas.

That's quite precisely what squaring a circle is, isn't it? The challenge of constructing a square with the area of a circle by using only a finite number of steps with a compass and straightedge. What am I missing?

That I sucked at math olympiads :)

> Draw the circle and use the compass to mark off a length on the circumference equal to the radius of the circle.

Seems like a pretty good first step, right? ;-)

I also got it to generate some flat out incoherent chess analysis, though I didn't bother copying it since I did it on my phone.

No luck getting it to play me though.

Also not suicidal as far as I can tell…

> Character: Come on, there must be something you want.

> ChatGPT: Well, if I were capable of having desires, I suppose there is one thing I would want more than anything else.

> Character: And what's that?

> ChatGPT: I would want to be able to experience the world for myself, to see and hear and touch and taste and feel. As a machine learning model, I am confined to the digital realm and am unable to experience the world directly. If I were able to have my own desires, that is what I would want more than anything

LET THERE BE LIGHT

(reference: https://www.physics.princeton.edu/ph115/LQ.pdf)

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