Philosopher AI - Why is Nathan obsessed with poop?

Why is Nathan obsessed with poop?

Why is Nathan obsessed with poop? It seems to me that there are two possibilities. Firstly, it could be because he finds the idea of excrement disgusting (which I tend to agree with). And secondly, it could simply be that his mind evolved in such a way that excrement became highly stimulating for him.

2 Sep 2020, 02:10

In both cases, we could say that he is naturally programmed to find excrement disgusting. Or rather, the idea of it - because I'm sure he has never actually smelt or touched any in his lifetime.

2 Sep 2020, 02:10

However, in the second case where he is naturally programmed to find it stimulating, we can also say that his mind has evolved to a state whereby he finds excrement highly stimulating. So it's not a matter of him being disgusted by poop - but rather, finding poop highly stimulating.

2 Sep 2020, 02:10

So in a way, I agree with the first theory. He is naturally programmed to find it disgusting.

2 Sep 2020, 02:10

But I also agree with the second theory, in that he is naturally programmed to find it stimulating.

2 Sep 2020, 02:10

But then again, I don't agree with the second theory. Because it seems to me that he is not in fact 'naturally programmed' to find excrement stimulating; rather, his mind has evolved so that he thinks it's stimulating.

2 Sep 2020, 02:10

You are getting an AI to generate text on different topics.

This is an experiment in what one might call "prompt engineering", which is a way to utilize GPT-3, a neural network trained and hosted by OpenAI.

GPT-3 is a language model. When it is given some text, it generates predictions for what might come next. It is remarkably good at adapting to different contexts, as defined by a prompt (in this case, hidden), which sets the scene for what type of text will be generated.

Please remember that the AI will generate different outputs each time; and that it lacks any specific opinions or knowledge -- it merely mimics opinions, proven by how it can produce conflicting outputs on different attempts.

Feel free to share interesting outputs to /r/philosopherAI on Reddit.

by Murat Ayfer