Here's an example of that I did which is either funny or insulting:
My question: Why did Buddha bring the dharma from the West?
Answer:
> The story of the Buddha bringing the dharma (or teachings) from the West is a metaphor that is often used in Buddhist literature to describe the Buddha's enlightenment. In this metaphor, the "West" represents a state of ignorance and suffering, while the "East" represents a state of enlightenment and understanding. According to the story, the Buddha was born and lived in the "West" before he became enlightened and brought the teachings of the dharma to the people of the world.
> This metaphor is meant to illustrate the idea that the Buddha's teachings are universal and applicable to all people, regardless of where they come from. It also suggests that the path to enlightenment is available to everyone, even those who are lost in ignorance and suffering.
> I hope this helps to clarify the meaning of this metaphor. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I get that I misquoted the koan (Bodhidharma, not Buddha) which was just my failing memory, not a subtle test, but it didn't correct me. More to the point, it completely misses the point of the koan and goes off on a tangent which I could just imagine coming out of some yahoo who's trying to sell Buddhism as a self-help book. It's not only wrong, it's wrong in precisely that kind of chirpy, condescending fashion which will, eventually, lead us to inventing a face for ChatGPT so we can bash it in with a few pounds of flax.
Anyway, here's actual Zen Buddhists talking about the koan:
> In order to make a first stumbling approach to this koan you need to drop all concepts of meaning, zen, life, reality, and so forth. Once they are gone, then you can slowly move towards the koan. Then maybe you can make a stab at it. Knowing however that whatever you do—whatever stab you make will miss. So why stab? Why study? Why bother?
This pattern of typos and wrong idioms consistently gets ChatGPT. You can ask it to explain some idiom that you completely make up and it won't say "that's not an idiom people use" but instead it will just make some shit up and sound confident about it.
It reminds me of being in 2nd grade or something. I definitely did this. That's still pretty remarkable from a research angle. It makes the tool questionably useful (I don't really want to ask a 2nd grader for advice at work) but it feels like we aren't very many steps away from a college freshmen - and that'd be interesting.
tbf, one of ChatGPT's biggest strengths is that it's not nearly as easily tricked as other chatbots
"I'm sorry, but I am not familiar with.... It does not appear to be a commonly used phrase or idiom" is one of its stock phrases, and I was pretty impressed with "It was not possible for Ferdinand Magellan to have circumnavigated your living room, as he lived and died more than four centuries ago", and some of the stuff you can trick it into acknowledging like "the parable of the loaves and the fishes" or treating Allan Klein as the "sixth Beatle" would fool most humans.
(Sometimes the denials go too far, like insisting that not only is there no "eighth Beatle" but also "no record of any additional members being referred to as...any other numbered beatle")
My question: Why did Buddha bring the dharma from the West?
Answer:
> The story of the Buddha bringing the dharma (or teachings) from the West is a metaphor that is often used in Buddhist literature to describe the Buddha's enlightenment. In this metaphor, the "West" represents a state of ignorance and suffering, while the "East" represents a state of enlightenment and understanding. According to the story, the Buddha was born and lived in the "West" before he became enlightened and brought the teachings of the dharma to the people of the world.
> This metaphor is meant to illustrate the idea that the Buddha's teachings are universal and applicable to all people, regardless of where they come from. It also suggests that the path to enlightenment is available to everyone, even those who are lost in ignorance and suffering.
> I hope this helps to clarify the meaning of this metaphor. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I get that I misquoted the koan (Bodhidharma, not Buddha) which was just my failing memory, not a subtle test, but it didn't correct me. More to the point, it completely misses the point of the koan and goes off on a tangent which I could just imagine coming out of some yahoo who's trying to sell Buddhism as a self-help book. It's not only wrong, it's wrong in precisely that kind of chirpy, condescending fashion which will, eventually, lead us to inventing a face for ChatGPT so we can bash it in with a few pounds of flax.
Anyway, here's actual Zen Buddhists talking about the koan:
https://www.treetopzencenter.org/bodhidharma-comes-from-the-...
Maybe this helps:
> In order to make a first stumbling approach to this koan you need to drop all concepts of meaning, zen, life, reality, and so forth. Once they are gone, then you can slowly move towards the koan. Then maybe you can make a stab at it. Knowing however that whatever you do—whatever stab you make will miss. So why stab? Why study? Why bother?
> I don’t know.