Entertaining and interesting - with no feelings, no opinions and the inability to join and take action, not something in which I want to invest much of my time. AI is perhaps a potentially viable resource, like many others derived from years of study to which Shaz has access. I think of AI as a kind of instant, developing library. Easy answers may not always be the best in terms of what we learn about learning. By the way, I believe and have an opinion that work/life balance is a myth. It is life, with work as part of life. More on that later. By the way, you might ask why some of my eggs seem to have the yolk in different locations within the egg white. I can find this on Google: "If raw eggs sit in one position too long, the yolk may settle to the bottom of the egg next to the shell." So, maybe there's a clue about the age of the egg?
Can't disagree with the disinclination to invest much time in it, but I found it an interesting exercise in thought organization and also unexpectedly validating. Unless it has a way of identifying users via IP address (I hope not!), it wouldn't "know" my preferences or inclinations, so I was surprised that so much of the content aligned with personal opinions and concepts I've shared here and elsewhere. Maybe I need to bone up on the content used to train the models! Maybe we're both (?) gleaning our ideas from similar sources.
As for your egg question, I consider my knowledge there to be above average, so I'll take a shot at an answer. Yolks are suspended within the white / albumen by small spring-like cords called chalazae. For best viability, these are meant to center the developing chick in the shell. Over time the robustness of the white thins, the cords lose strength, and the natural air pocket at the wide end of the egg diminishes, allowing the yolk to float to whichever egg end is pointing up in storage. So, yes, you're right! Yolk position, as well as height and spread of the albumen when the raw egg is poured onto a flat surface, can be an indicator of age. 🐣
Here you go, Gary. But really, feel free to use the tool...it seems quite benign, for now!
*****
Why do some of my eggs seem to have the yolk in different locations within the egg white?
You're right to notice that! The position of the yolk in an egg can vary, and there are a few reasons for this:
Age of the egg: As an egg ages, the yolk membrane weakens and the yolk can move around more freely within the white. Fresher eggs tend to have yolks that are more centered.
Handling: Rough handling during transportation or storage can jostle the yolk and cause it to shift position.
Genetics: Some chicken breeds naturally lay eggs with yolks that are more prone to being off-center.
Rotation during laying: The way a hen rotates her body while laying an egg can also influence the yolk's final position.
Is it a problem?
Generally, the position of the yolk doesn't affect the egg's quality or safety. It's purely a cosmetic difference.
Fun fact:
In some cultures, the position of the yolk is believed to have symbolic meaning. For example, in some parts of Asia, a centered yolk is seen as a sign of good luck.
Love this! Now, with at least 4 possible reasons, I am curious about which one may apply to my eggs. I will say this. When we had our own chickens and the eggs were freshly laid by free range, organically fed chickens, the yolks seemed centered. Now that we buy our eggs at the mega grocery store with the use by date, I have a hunch the age factor plays large in the equation without discounting the other possibilities.
Thanks for going there so I don't have to! I am going to admit to skimming through much of the bot's responses; I just wasn't that interested in what the bot had to say. (The answer about China did grab my attention; it felt like an aberration from the others--weirdly specific.) This tells me I read for connection with a human perspective more than for information, which is not really news to me, but makes me feel better, somehow. I want the weirdly specific perspectives of individual humans, in their unique voices, which is why I will always show up to meet you here.
I hear all of this, Rita! As I mentioned under Gary Gruber's comment just above, I haven't switched gears entirely, but I was intrigued to discover something affirming, possibly even reassuring about the responses I received. Except for the China reply, which was, as you say, startlingly specific, most of what I got back reflected my own beliefs and knowledge. So maybe that means I'm just deeply embedded in conventional wisdom, or maybe that means I'm a broad thinker, an unoriginal thinker, or maybe that the models are being trained on datasets that have informed my own ideas over the years. Who knows? For the record, the alternate response on the social issues question was much more in keeping with the rest (and added length to an already long piece). Since each answer is tied to a particular model, that one must be trained on information very different from the others.
Thank you for showing up to meet me here, Rita, and I promise I'll be back to more of what comes out of my own head next week! :)
To add on to your conversation with Gary and your reply here, I will say that I think there are potentially valuable uses for AI. I think you said in your essay, I believe all tools can be used for good or ill. As a former English teacher, I was pretty intrigued by ChatGPT when it came out; lots of English teachers were freaking out about it, but for reasons I thought were a bit beside the point. It should prompt an overhaul in the aims and purposes of ELA classes (overdue, anyway, IMO), and that is worth a freakout because of the challenge of such a task, but most of the conversation I saw was about how to keep it from changing things. I'm old enough to remember the same conversation around spell-check and other editing tools, which we now all use without much thought.
Glad to know you'll be back next week! :-) Maybe by then I'll get out a piece I've been working on about the time it takes to have something ready to share.
The time it takes definitely has a connection to this piece, Rita. Some weeks are harder than others. :) I look forward to reading your next installment whenever it's ready.
Very interesting, Elizabeth!! I am curious about the chat you had with your model at the beginning - how much information you gave it. Otherwise it seems the information given to you comes from a common "cultural" linguistic base, or "knowledge" - no surprises there, except perhaps for too much information and creation of layers, like a table of contents... The question of access to your IP address is an interesting one - we are public figures, all of us, aren't we? The name AI bothers me, and the personification of a database bothers me as well... I have always wanted to try it out though and will let you know if I do. Great fun! Thanks sharing your experience!
I was mesmerized, Elizabeth. I wanted something to listen to while I repaired a ripped pocket of a favorite shirt. So while I whip-stitched away, occasionally looking out over Green Bay (we are at Busy's grandparent's old place in Wisconsin) I listened to your voice. Hearing you read Shaz's reply made him/her/them sound more human. I loved your questions. I've also wondered about limes, so thanks for that. The big surprises for me were the China response (like Rita says, "weirdly specific"), the 8-ball response (perfect ending by the way. I laughed out loud and woke the dog!), and the "active listening" answer. And it's somehow fitting, because what AI does that is so astounding is that its replies often make us feel listened to. No commentary, no judgment. Just a reply to whatever question we have. Like an occasionally long-winded listening buddy.
I'm sure it's already been asked by someone: "AI, write me next week's entry."
I also appreciated your essay while I was sewing, making a hundred little decisions with my 10 fingers based on feel and look and strength of the repair. No AI gonna do that any time soon! (he said, wondering...)
I recently asked ChatGPT to translate a poem I wrote into German, which it did. Then I asked for two more versions of the same English text, from which I stitched together the best version. Still, I gave translation credit to the machine.
"Like an occasionally long-winded listening buddy.." Ha! I'm picturing you sewing while listening, choosing where your stitches will go, thinking about limes and lemons, listening to a story as told by Shaz. It's rather futuristic Garrison Keillor!
Using AI for translation support seems like an excellent use of its capabilities. I used it to help jump start a work newsletter I was trying to write on a tight schedule with too little sleep. The end result was mine, but AI helped me organize the points I wanted to make.
It's here to stay, no question. I hope we can get some guardrails in place to help limit its potentially damaging effects.
Thanks for reading / listening Stew, and for your thoughtful comment.
What concerns me is that AI trawls the web and lifts off any and everything that is written by people with feelings, emotions, degrees in high science, medicine, the arts and more and is then happy to spout the pilfered information forth with no conscience at all (either in the original designers of the app or in the apparent 'niceness' of Shazbot.)
So many books are being sold on Amazon now and they've been 'written' by authors using an AI model. It's sad and intimidating for those of us who write books using our creative grey cells. In fact, if we have published an ebook, our stories can be plagiarised, rearranged and sold on under different titles by AI. Amazon is supposed to identify books published under an AI method but its less than remarkable.
I hear that, Prue. I hope we can find ways to keep that kind of plagiarism in check. Though there have been versions of similar activity since the dawn of the web, AI has upped the speed and the stakes. It's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, keep pace, and know how to best respond. Really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and concerns.
To quote a t-shirt message I saw on the back of a bib overall wearing, massively overweight, barefooted with signs of fluid retention hillbilly truck driver at the Flying J truck stop in Winnemucca, Nevada, which rather nicely sums up my thinking about talking to an AI chat bot: “F! U. I have enough friends already.” I mean that in the most pleasant way possible.
Although there is the option of unplugging the thing, just as I do when losing a computer chess match.
The visual you set up at the beginning of this comment is golden! I've been interested in the dichotomy of opinion on this particular post, with some, my hubby included, expressing feelings ranging from disinterest to distrust, and others intrigued or involved. The way I see it, it's here no matter what, so I'm curious (there's that word again!) and keeping my eyes open for ideas about how we can tap into its usefulness while keeping some form of "governor" on its far-reaching dangers.
Let us know when you pick up a pair of those overalls!
Last time I checked in with myself, "yikes" did not compute with "in a good way."
As to the rest of your comment, I can see some advantage to having an impartial as part of our political maneuverings, but I'm afraid Shaz doesn't agree:
"Can we add you to the ballot in the upcoming U.S. election?"
That's a creative thought! However, the U.S. Constitution and election laws have specific requirements for candidates, including being a natural-born citizen and meeting age and residency criteria. As an AI, I don't meet any of those requirements.
Perhaps you could focus your energy on supporting human candidates whose policies align with your values.
As I've shared with others, I've never posted anything that received a more dichotomous response. I had folks I know in person approach me to sing the praises of the resource and others (including one in my own house!) who gave me the stink-eye. The way I see it, this technology is here to stay, so I may as well come to terms with it as I can. And anyway, you got something against bots? LOL!
I agree - AI is certainly here to stay, and I feel that human-generated text and art and maths and science and and and… isn’t suddenly going to disappear as a result. 🙂
Entertaining and interesting - with no feelings, no opinions and the inability to join and take action, not something in which I want to invest much of my time. AI is perhaps a potentially viable resource, like many others derived from years of study to which Shaz has access. I think of AI as a kind of instant, developing library. Easy answers may not always be the best in terms of what we learn about learning. By the way, I believe and have an opinion that work/life balance is a myth. It is life, with work as part of life. More on that later. By the way, you might ask why some of my eggs seem to have the yolk in different locations within the egg white. I can find this on Google: "If raw eggs sit in one position too long, the yolk may settle to the bottom of the egg next to the shell." So, maybe there's a clue about the age of the egg?
Can't disagree with the disinclination to invest much time in it, but I found it an interesting exercise in thought organization and also unexpectedly validating. Unless it has a way of identifying users via IP address (I hope not!), it wouldn't "know" my preferences or inclinations, so I was surprised that so much of the content aligned with personal opinions and concepts I've shared here and elsewhere. Maybe I need to bone up on the content used to train the models! Maybe we're both (?) gleaning our ideas from similar sources.
As for your egg question, I consider my knowledge there to be above average, so I'll take a shot at an answer. Yolks are suspended within the white / albumen by small spring-like cords called chalazae. For best viability, these are meant to center the developing chick in the shell. Over time the robustness of the white thins, the cords lose strength, and the natural air pocket at the wide end of the egg diminishes, allowing the yolk to float to whichever egg end is pointing up in storage. So, yes, you're right! Yolk position, as well as height and spread of the albumen when the raw egg is poured onto a flat surface, can be an indicator of age. 🐣
Want to compare your answer to the egg question. which I appreciate, to what Shaz might say? Thanks, Elizabeth.
Here you go, Gary. But really, feel free to use the tool...it seems quite benign, for now!
*****
Why do some of my eggs seem to have the yolk in different locations within the egg white?
You're right to notice that! The position of the yolk in an egg can vary, and there are a few reasons for this:
Age of the egg: As an egg ages, the yolk membrane weakens and the yolk can move around more freely within the white. Fresher eggs tend to have yolks that are more centered.
Handling: Rough handling during transportation or storage can jostle the yolk and cause it to shift position.
Genetics: Some chicken breeds naturally lay eggs with yolks that are more prone to being off-center.
Rotation during laying: The way a hen rotates her body while laying an egg can also influence the yolk's final position.
Is it a problem?
Generally, the position of the yolk doesn't affect the egg's quality or safety. It's purely a cosmetic difference.
Fun fact:
In some cultures, the position of the yolk is believed to have symbolic meaning. For example, in some parts of Asia, a centered yolk is seen as a sign of good luck.
Love this! Now, with at least 4 possible reasons, I am curious about which one may apply to my eggs. I will say this. When we had our own chickens and the eggs were freshly laid by free range, organically fed chickens, the yolks seemed centered. Now that we buy our eggs at the mega grocery store with the use by date, I have a hunch the age factor plays large in the equation without discounting the other possibilities.
Thanks for going there so I don't have to! I am going to admit to skimming through much of the bot's responses; I just wasn't that interested in what the bot had to say. (The answer about China did grab my attention; it felt like an aberration from the others--weirdly specific.) This tells me I read for connection with a human perspective more than for information, which is not really news to me, but makes me feel better, somehow. I want the weirdly specific perspectives of individual humans, in their unique voices, which is why I will always show up to meet you here.
I hear all of this, Rita! As I mentioned under Gary Gruber's comment just above, I haven't switched gears entirely, but I was intrigued to discover something affirming, possibly even reassuring about the responses I received. Except for the China reply, which was, as you say, startlingly specific, most of what I got back reflected my own beliefs and knowledge. So maybe that means I'm just deeply embedded in conventional wisdom, or maybe that means I'm a broad thinker, an unoriginal thinker, or maybe that the models are being trained on datasets that have informed my own ideas over the years. Who knows? For the record, the alternate response on the social issues question was much more in keeping with the rest (and added length to an already long piece). Since each answer is tied to a particular model, that one must be trained on information very different from the others.
Thank you for showing up to meet me here, Rita, and I promise I'll be back to more of what comes out of my own head next week! :)
To add on to your conversation with Gary and your reply here, I will say that I think there are potentially valuable uses for AI. I think you said in your essay, I believe all tools can be used for good or ill. As a former English teacher, I was pretty intrigued by ChatGPT when it came out; lots of English teachers were freaking out about it, but for reasons I thought were a bit beside the point. It should prompt an overhaul in the aims and purposes of ELA classes (overdue, anyway, IMO), and that is worth a freakout because of the challenge of such a task, but most of the conversation I saw was about how to keep it from changing things. I'm old enough to remember the same conversation around spell-check and other editing tools, which we now all use without much thought.
Glad to know you'll be back next week! :-) Maybe by then I'll get out a piece I've been working on about the time it takes to have something ready to share.
The time it takes definitely has a connection to this piece, Rita. Some weeks are harder than others. :) I look forward to reading your next installment whenever it's ready.
Very interesting, Elizabeth!! I am curious about the chat you had with your model at the beginning - how much information you gave it. Otherwise it seems the information given to you comes from a common "cultural" linguistic base, or "knowledge" - no surprises there, except perhaps for too much information and creation of layers, like a table of contents... The question of access to your IP address is an interesting one - we are public figures, all of us, aren't we? The name AI bothers me, and the personification of a database bothers me as well... I have always wanted to try it out though and will let you know if I do. Great fun! Thanks sharing your experience!
I was mesmerized, Elizabeth. I wanted something to listen to while I repaired a ripped pocket of a favorite shirt. So while I whip-stitched away, occasionally looking out over Green Bay (we are at Busy's grandparent's old place in Wisconsin) I listened to your voice. Hearing you read Shaz's reply made him/her/them sound more human. I loved your questions. I've also wondered about limes, so thanks for that. The big surprises for me were the China response (like Rita says, "weirdly specific"), the 8-ball response (perfect ending by the way. I laughed out loud and woke the dog!), and the "active listening" answer. And it's somehow fitting, because what AI does that is so astounding is that its replies often make us feel listened to. No commentary, no judgment. Just a reply to whatever question we have. Like an occasionally long-winded listening buddy.
I'm sure it's already been asked by someone: "AI, write me next week's entry."
I also appreciated your essay while I was sewing, making a hundred little decisions with my 10 fingers based on feel and look and strength of the repair. No AI gonna do that any time soon! (he said, wondering...)
I recently asked ChatGPT to translate a poem I wrote into German, which it did. Then I asked for two more versions of the same English text, from which I stitched together the best version. Still, I gave translation credit to the machine.
"Like an occasionally long-winded listening buddy.." Ha! I'm picturing you sewing while listening, choosing where your stitches will go, thinking about limes and lemons, listening to a story as told by Shaz. It's rather futuristic Garrison Keillor!
Using AI for translation support seems like an excellent use of its capabilities. I used it to help jump start a work newsletter I was trying to write on a tight schedule with too little sleep. The end result was mine, but AI helped me organize the points I wanted to make.
It's here to stay, no question. I hope we can get some guardrails in place to help limit its potentially damaging effects.
Thanks for reading / listening Stew, and for your thoughtful comment.
Dangerous.
What concerns me is that AI trawls the web and lifts off any and everything that is written by people with feelings, emotions, degrees in high science, medicine, the arts and more and is then happy to spout the pilfered information forth with no conscience at all (either in the original designers of the app or in the apparent 'niceness' of Shazbot.)
So many books are being sold on Amazon now and they've been 'written' by authors using an AI model. It's sad and intimidating for those of us who write books using our creative grey cells. In fact, if we have published an ebook, our stories can be plagiarised, rearranged and sold on under different titles by AI. Amazon is supposed to identify books published under an AI method but its less than remarkable.
So for me - dangerous, very dangerous...
I hear that, Prue. I hope we can find ways to keep that kind of plagiarism in check. Though there have been versions of similar activity since the dawn of the web, AI has upped the speed and the stakes. It's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, keep pace, and know how to best respond. Really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and concerns.
To quote a t-shirt message I saw on the back of a bib overall wearing, massively overweight, barefooted with signs of fluid retention hillbilly truck driver at the Flying J truck stop in Winnemucca, Nevada, which rather nicely sums up my thinking about talking to an AI chat bot: “F! U. I have enough friends already.” I mean that in the most pleasant way possible.
Although there is the option of unplugging the thing, just as I do when losing a computer chess match.
The visual you set up at the beginning of this comment is golden! I've been interested in the dichotomy of opinion on this particular post, with some, my hubby included, expressing feelings ranging from disinterest to distrust, and others intrigued or involved. The way I see it, it's here no matter what, so I'm curious (there's that word again!) and keeping my eyes open for ideas about how we can tap into its usefulness while keeping some form of "governor" on its far-reaching dangers.
Let us know when you pick up a pair of those overalls!
Yikes! But in a good way I think. Can Shazbot put its name on the ballot this fall please? Or, too soon?
Last time I checked in with myself, "yikes" did not compute with "in a good way."
As to the rest of your comment, I can see some advantage to having an impartial as part of our political maneuverings, but I'm afraid Shaz doesn't agree:
"Can we add you to the ballot in the upcoming U.S. election?"
That's a creative thought! However, the U.S. Constitution and election laws have specific requirements for candidates, including being a natural-born citizen and meeting age and residency criteria. As an AI, I don't meet any of those requirements.
Perhaps you could focus your energy on supporting human candidates whose policies align with your values.
🤔
Oh goodness, Elizabeth, what a fascinating idea for a post! Wow.
I'm feeling rather unsettled now.....! 👀
As I've shared with others, I've never posted anything that received a more dichotomous response. I had folks I know in person approach me to sing the praises of the resource and others (including one in my own house!) who gave me the stink-eye. The way I see it, this technology is here to stay, so I may as well come to terms with it as I can. And anyway, you got something against bots? LOL!
I agree - AI is certainly here to stay, and I feel that human-generated text and art and maths and science and and and… isn’t suddenly going to disappear as a result. 🙂