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Comment by astrobe_ | Hacker News Reader

What can one actually do with a 1 Watt laser? That's a good question to ask to an AI: "A 1-watt laser can be used for various applications, such as cutting materials, engraving, and even lighting cigarettes. However, it poses significant risks, including the potential to cause instant and permanent eye injuries, so safety precautions are essential".

So it looks like it packs some... Power. But I guess the frequency of the light makes all the difference, or maybe exposure duration?

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Energy is what your looking for.

Static electricity discharges at around 400 to 600W. Yet it's for an extremely brief amount of time. Sub millisecond usually) so the actual energy transferred is minimal.

It takes around 1Wh to heat a liter of water 1 degree just to put things in perspective.

The laser concentrates the power in a small spot that's why it is more dangerous. Consider what 1W would do to 1 mm³ of water.

> That's a good question to ask to an AI

What makes you say that? By what metric?

Not OP, but…

Asking Google about one watt lasers inevitably produces junk that does not address the question at all.

Sifting and sorting through that junk is tiresome.

AI provides a succinct answer with as much depth is requested and can further clarify or expound on the original findings.

What’s not to like about such interactions? And, furthermore, how is the AI interaction in this case not objectively ‘better’ than a Google search?

> What’s not to like about such interactions?

The at-best-coincidental correlation with accuracy and truth.

While I agree (despite generally liking AI, I agree), this has been a shared similarity with web search results for some years already.

I think at least it is good at answering questions that have been asked before, in some way or another. But the real question is, why didn't I also ask my follow up question to it, instead of trying to talk with humans? I think I prefer to learn from real people with hands-on experience, and maybe hear amazing or amusing stories in the process.

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