AI on synchronicity…and more

The other day our podcast producer, Jon, texted us and asked:

Are you aware of the “AI” project Chat GPT? *”OpenAI” I would be curious to see what kind of interactions you come up with. https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/ You can login and use it with your Google credentials. Microsoft has invested heavily in development. It launched for public alpha on Nov 30th.

Jon then asked Chat GPT to write an essay on synchronicity. Here is what came up.

Chat GPT:

Synchronicity is a concept that was developed by psychiatrist Carl Jung to describe the experience of meaningful coincidences in one’s life. These coincidences often seem to be connected in a way that defies the laws of cause and effect and are often accompanied by a feeling of awe or a sense of something greater at work.

Jung believed that synchronicity was a form of communication from the unconscious mind, a way for the unconscious to send messages or guidance to the conscious mind. He saw it as evidence of a deeper, underlying unity in the universe, a connection between all things that could not be explained by traditional cause and effect relationships.

One of the key ideas behind synchronicity is the concept of non-causal relationships. In other words, two events may be connected in some meaningful way, but there is no direct causal relationship between them. For example, a person may dream about a certain symbol and then see that symbol in real life later that day, but there is no logical explanation for why the symbol appeared in both the dream and real life.

Some people see synchronicity as a sign of something greater at work, such as a higher power or a connection to a collective unconscious. Others see it as simply a coincidence and attribute it to the law of probability, which states that the more something is expected to happen, the more likely it is to happen.

Regardless of how one interprets synchronicity, it is undeniable that these meaningful coincidences can have a powerful impact on a person’s life. They can provide comfort, guidance, and a sense of connection to something larger than oneself. Many people also find that paying attention to and reflecting on synchronicities can help them gain insight into their own unconscious mind and inner workings.

In conclusion, synchronicity is a concept that describes the experience of meaningful coincidences in one’s life. It can be seen as a form of communication from the unconscious mind or as a sign of a deeper unity in the universe. Regardless of how it is interpreted, synchronicity can have a powerful impact on a person’s life and can provide insight and guidance.

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Wow, that’s damn good. And not cynical or dismissive as everything even faintly related to the paranormal is on Wikipedia.

But, what’s in store for the long run? As the machines get smarter, are humans getting dumber? Think about how calculators have made basic math skills unnecessary. How many of us can quickly at least estimate how many dollars there are in 500 Icelandic Kronas if one Kronar equals .0071 U.S. dollar. Yikes, where’s the calculator?

With AI capabilities, it seems that student essays are now in many cases just a press of the button. Hopefully, the students will at least read their essays so they learn something.

When I made this point about student essays to Jon, he responded that the instructors can also use AI to grade the ‘papers.’ To make his point, he asked the AI Chat to review it’s own essay on synchronicity. This is what it said:

ChatGPT:
Overall, this essay does a good job of explaining the concept of synchronicity and discussing some of the different interpretations of it. The essay is clear and well-written, with good organization and transitions between paragraphs.
One potential improvement would be to provide more examples of synchronicity to help illustrate the concept and make it more concrete for the reader. Additionally, the essay could benefit from further explanation and elaboration on some of the key ideas, such as the concept of non-causal relationships and the law of probability.
I would give this essay a B+. It effectively communicates the main ideas and provides a balanced overview of the topic, but could be further developed and strengthened with more concrete examples and further explanation of key concepts.
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So it’s slightly critical of its own essay and makes some good points. That leads us to wonder about the ability of such an AI program to write fiction. It turns out some writers are already using AI to write parts of their novel. Not sure how they do that, but they say it allows them to move ahead quickly with their story.

I never thought machines could replace fiction writing, but I suppose it won’t be long until there’s a bestselling novel written entirely by a machine programmed with characters and a brief plot outline. And probably the publishing industry is salivating at the idea. All they have to do is employ the AI software. They will no doubt call it being pro-active, getting ahead of the game.