What I see is not so much an increase in knowledge as much as a different and to my mind far superior experience. I'm more likely to seek information when it's not buried in marketed page rankings or branded portals all providing in some instances the identical phrases.

When the iPhone came out suddenly people's experience with mobile changed. I see that happening right now.

Is there a version of chat GPT that can be downloaded which will work offline?

I'm sorry. Yes, of course it can happen. Maybe I didn't stress the fact that I'm part of all this too.

Our church has many widows. Also alcoholics and drug addicts, some of them in different stages of recovery. Also young people, whose parents are on edge because of the world we live in. Also people who dis everything they come across. And without exception, the ones I've interacted with are amazing. Humans all. There are no beds of roses. There is challenge.

Take care. Divorce can be so brutal.

Last week I would have applauded your positivity. Somehow this week I've come to regard the entire human race as mental.(Self included.) That changes things.

Because things aren't going to significantly change. We will always have people we need to help, the poor, the widows, the hungry. And we will always have people grabbing everything they can and others fighting each other.

BUT we will also have with us the innocent, the sincere, the hopeful, the helpful, the encouragers, and everyone in between.

So though I have misgivings about our future, I'm optimistic that there will always be ways I can help out. Hey, I applaud you anyway.

Perhaps it's as simple as this: intelligent life would look at the distance to the stars and say: No way. I'm staying home and working with my race to make damn sure this custom fit planet sustains us.

I don't see any intelligence at all at this point, unless we believe that if it looks, sounds, and smells like intelligence, it probably is. In other words, if Joe on the street can be fooled by algorithms, AI is for all practical purposes here now.

"Even after two years, he was still in thrall with just being at Waseda, with just having a quiet room to read in.

If anything, he wanted a very simple life filled with nature, books, and perhaps a few children. He knew that later in life, he also wanted to be let alone to read and to be quiet."

~Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee

I feel the same. I've read The Little Friend twice and will probably re-read it for the rest of my life. Because of the way it doesn't end. Knowing it was written that way on purpose just keeps me coming back.

As much as it takes. I have pre-alzheimers and never know what I'm going to forget or for how long.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt:

>THE SNOW in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.

Who or what is Bunny? A little kid's rabbit? Who is narrating? What kind of person? Several weeks dead? Just now coming to understand the 'gravity' of the situation?

Maybe this makes me want to read it all over again.

Come on. We don't need capital AI to fall in love. I know many people who are infatuated by their current mobile phones.

Hopefully he's talking substance and not just an increase in buzz. AI has a long way to go.

I think the posts on booklist threads are much more revealing than the lists themselves.

Today I learned a new way to misspell 'dispute'.

One of my favorite books of all time is Bombardiers by Po Bronson. He's accused by some of plagiarizing Catch-22 but to me it's more relevant to our age because the Bombardiers are bond salespeople who are selling worthless bonds during the S&L crisis of the 80's and 90's.

Major Major is morphed into Lisa Lisa, and Yossarian becomes Sidney Geeder, who feels trapped selling bonds that he knows are worthless. He hates what he does but is very good at it and the money is obscene, so he can't walk away.

Change things up. Take a break. Life happens. Thank me later. P.S. Social media: Avoid that too for awhile.

To me the book is more an artistic work. One extensive rabbit hole is the footnotes. Careful reading reveals at least one of them that references an obscure but real person, a scholar, who wrote a real work of scholarship that is referenced in the book.

Others have purportedly found embedded messages in the words written in the book since it was written.

All of the phenomena within and around the the House of Leaves transform it into a concept piece that threatens to be endless as it snarls back in and around itself.

What kind of preparation are you doing? Off the shelf chatbotgpt seems very limited.

Yeah that bot isn't so smart.

Thanks I feel much better. I'm almost over Covid, out of quarantine tomorrow.

This is really starting to feel like the end. The ceaseless articles on this and other subs are positive in tone yet herald new methods that are disturbing.

I remember Alvin Toffler's book, Future Shock, from 1970. It felt like this. In battling disease we're dealing with technology that is truly moving beyond our understanding. Scientists are struggling to keep up with the developments that are creating themselves.

Bravo! You maybe typed it with a smile on your face? Evidently this chatbot is getting smarter. I'm going to have to try harder.

And one more:

Me: Write the lyrics to a song about wind and ice, but not fire.

ChatGPT: Here are some possible lyrics for a song about wind and ice, but not fire:

Verse 1:

The wind is howling, the snow is falling Icy blasts of air that freeze you to the bone Winter's here, and it's not for stalling Bracing for the cold, and all that it's shown

Chorus:

Wind and ice, the elements of winter Nature's fury, a force to be reckoned with Winter's here, and it's not getting slimmer Wind and ice, a season to survive

Verse 2:

The wind is whipping, the ice is glistening Frozen lakes and streams, a winter wonderland But don't be fooled, it's not all glitter and shine Winter's harsh, and it can be unkind

Chorus:

Wind and ice, the elements of winter Nature's fury, a force to be reckoned with Winter's here, and it's not getting slimmer Wind and ice, a season to survive

Bridge:

No fire to warm us, no flames to light the way We must endure the cold, and face another day But even in the midst of winter's bitter chill We'll find the strength to carry on, until

Chorus:

Wind and ice, the elements of winter Nature's fury, a force to be reckoned with Winter's here, and it's not getting slimmer Wind and ice, a season to survive

Here is one that I got:

Me: Can a rock be so large that it cannot lift its own shadow?

ChatGPT: A rock cannot have a shadow, because a shadow is formed when an object blocks light. Since a rock is solid and not transparent, it can block light and cast a shadow. However, the size of a rock would not affect its ability to cast a shadow, as long as it is in a location where there is light to be blocked.