The brilliance of ChatGPT

[Phil Davis]

Absolutely no sarcasm intended by the title; I'm increasingly astonished at how well my friend Chat can navigate some rather arcane topics.  I hope I can be excused for a post not directly related to ancient numismatics; like it or not, AI is going to impact numismatics along with everything else. The brilliance of ChatGPT's answers compared to--say--the idiotic and intrusive Google AI is self-evident, but I think it compares quite well with humans also. How could even a smart and erudite human improve on the following conversation, especially bearing in mind that displaying the answer took much longer than "thinking" it up?

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Phil: The famous and often quoted lines in Yeats's Second Coming, "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity", seem unmistakably to echo a passage in Thucydides, "Ignorance brings confidence, rational calculation leads to hesitation". Has this correspondence been noted by Yeatsian scholars?

ChatGPT: The lines from W.B. Yeats's "The Second Coming"—"The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity"—bear a resemblance to Thucydides' observation: "Ignorance brings confidence; rational calculation leads to hesitation." This parallel highlights a recurring theme in literature and philosophy: the tendency of the uninformed to exhibit unwarranted confidence, while the knowledgeable often display caution.

However, there is no substantial evidence to suggest that Yeats directly drew inspiration from Thucydides for these lines. Yeats's works are known for their rich tapestry of influences, including mythology, mysticism, and contemporary events. While he was well-read and might have been familiar with Thucydides, scholars have not definitively established a direct connection between Thucydides' writings and this particular passage in "The Second Coming."

It's worth noting that the theme of the confident ignorant versus the hesitant wise is a common motif across various cultures and eras. For instance, Bertrand Russell, in his 1933 essay "The Triumph of Stupidity," remarked, "The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt." This suggests that both Yeats and Thucydides were articulating a universal observation about human behavior, rather than Yeats directly referencing Thucydides.

In summary, while the thematic similarity between Yeats's poem and Thucydides' statement is evident, there is no conclusive scholarly evidence to confirm that Yeats was directly influenced by Thucydides in crafting these lines.

Phil: Brilliant response. Thank you. As far as we can tell from the remnants of ancient scholarship remaining to us, was Thucydides the first to voice that sentiment?

ChatGPT: It is difficult to state definitively whether Thucydides was the first to articulate the idea that "ignorance brings confidence, rational calculation leads to hesitation," because so much of ancient literature has been lost. However, from the extant texts that we have, Thucydides appears to be one of the earliest recorded figures to articulate this sentiment with such clarity and precision.

In The History of the Peloponnesian War (3.83), Thucydides comments on the boldness of ignorance compared to the caution of rational deliberation during moments of political and military crisis. This insight reflects the analytical depth of Thucydides' work, which is often described as a pioneering study of human behavior in the face of power, fear, and uncertainty.

Other ancient thinkers, such as Hesiod and Heraclitus, touched on related themes, such as the folly of rashness or the virtues of wisdom, but their surviving works do not frame the specific contrast between ignorant confidence and hesitant calculation in the same way. For example:

Hesiod, in Works and Days, discusses the importance of prudence and avoiding hubris, though his focus is more moral and didactic.
Heraclitus often emphasizes paradox and the limits of human understanding but does not juxtapose confidence and hesitation explicitly.
Later philosophers like Socrates, as recorded by Plato, emphasize the dangers of ignorance, particularly in The Apology, where Socrates criticizes those who claim knowledge they do not possess. However, this is more about intellectual humility than the specific dynamic Thucydides describes.

In conclusion, while earlier thinkers explored aspects of ignorance, wisdom, and decision-making, Thucydides seems to be the first—based on surviving works—to crystallize this particular observation into a striking, almost universal principle. His articulation has had a lasting influence on Western thought, echoed in later philosophical and literary works.

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[Hrefn]

This brought to my mind the similar popular saying, “Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread,” presuming it was a bit of folk wisdom of some antiquity.    To my surprise, it seems to have been coined by Alexander Pope in 1709, so not so old.  At least, not so old from the vantage point of a Byzantinologist.   

AI is impressive, but the repetitive nature of the responses is a clue to their origin.  I presume the programming will be adjusted to eliminate this, and it will become progressively more difficult to identify the response as AI-generated.  My graduate students are already using AI to complete assignments.  The perfect spelling and punctuation stand out.  Once AI begins to throw in a few typos and misspellings it will be even harder to identify.  

[Hrefn]

Some caution in accepting AI responses is very much warranted.  In response to a query about Ostrogothic tremisses, it spit out the following:

“The obverse of Theodoric’s tremisses typically features a portrait of Theodoric, often modeled after the style of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperors. He is depicted in a diadem (crown) or sometimes with a helmet, in a profile view, and with a serene, formal expression. The portrait reflects Theodoric’s status as a ruler aligned with the Roman imperial tradition, emphasizing his legitimacy.”

The problem with this is that there are no portrait tremisses of Theodoric at all.  Caveat interlocutor.

[Phil Davis]

1 hour ago, Hrefn said:

Some caution in accepting AI responses is very much warranted.  In response to a query about Ostrogothic tremisses, it spit out the following:

“The obverse of Theodoric’s tremisses typically features a portrait of Theodoric, often modeled after the style of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperors. He is depicted in a diadem (crown) or sometimes with a helmet, in a profile view, and with a serene, formal expression. The portrait reflects Theodoric’s status as a ruler aligned with the Roman imperial tradition, emphasizing his legitimacy.”

The problem with this is that there are no portrait tremisses of Theodoric at all.  Caveat interlocutor.

I've also discovered that its numismatic knowledge is, shall we say, imperfect.

[Broucheion]

Hi @Phil Davis,

You asked: “Has this correspondence been noted by Yeatsian scholars?”

Chat answered: “… there is no conclusive scholarly evidence to confirm that Yeats was directly influenced by Thucydides in crafting these lines.”

That’s not an answer to your question. Chat talked around your question and instead answered the question it could. That’s a good politician’s answer for those who are not thinking critically.

- Broucheion 

Edited November 21, 2024 by Broucheion

[Deinomenid]

What @Broucheion says. I think it's a wonderful tool  but I have to  interrogate the replies as it has a habit of adding modifiers ("conclusive" or "directly") even when  told to remember not to do so.

@Phil Davis I note you thanked it. I do the same sometimes, and also say please. Hopefully my courtesy will stand me in good stead for when it becomes my overlord, presumably with the next updates.

[Phil Davis]

59 minutes ago, Broucheion said:

Hi @Phil Davis,

You asked: “Has this correspondence been noted by Yeatsian scholars?”

Chat answered: “… there is no conclusive scholarly evidence to confirm that Yeats was directly influenced by Thucydides in crafting these lines.”

That’s not an answer to your question. Chat talked around your question and instead answered the question it could. That’s a good politician’s answer for those who are not thinking critically.

- Broucheion 

I agree, but it also came up with a spot-on quote from Russell, which I wasn't aware of and thus obviously hadn't even hinted at. Imagine trying to get any info on this from Google. I was an early adopter of Google as the best search engine, back when that wasn't so clear, but I'm starting to truly hate it now. I suppose it retains some use, if you want the exact address of a restaurant or something.

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

Speaking of ChatGPT, I tried making it generate an ancient coin with the lighthouse of Alexandria… it didn’t go well, but it didn’t even go so horribly! It’s just hard to get a good prompt, but I’m sure that with some tweaking it could get there! I only had 3 chances per day with the free version, so I stopped after the 3rd:

V1:

V2:

V3:

Anyone else had fun with it? 🙂

[Broucheion]

9 hours ago, AncientCoinnoisseur said:

Speaking of ChatGPT, I tried making it generate an ancient coin with the lighthouse of Alexandria… it didn’t go well, but it didn’t even go so horribly!

Sorry @AncientCoinnoisseur,

It did go horribly. Not one of the illustrations draws from a coin image or a scholarly reconstruction image that has the right number of stories or the correct shapes for those sections. I could have just as easily asked anyone on the street describe what they fancied the Pharos looked like. See for example https://www.cointalk.com/threads/great-lighthouse-of-alexandria.361050/#post-4547351 (coin image attached).

Why are we so happy to settle with “sort of close enough” ? There are so many images they must have scanned through as part of the training sets.

- Broucheion 

 

Edited November 23, 2024 by Broucheion