[OptionOfT]

I think those are 2 different issues.

Searching for something, and finding it, is different from what ChatGPT / Claude does.

Google (in the good old days) is like the library. You want to search 'how to plant potatoes on Mars'. No results. Well, you split it up, maybe a book on planting potatoes, and a book about missions to Mars that describes soil composition.

Then, when you have those books you start reading, parsing, understanding, making connections, identifying what needs to be done etc.

Maybe, if you're lucky, you find a book or a web page where somebody went through the thought exercise of finding out what would be needed to make it work.

ChatGPT / Claude / ... are different in that they have the information in their corpus, and that the information they present you could actually be something that has never been written down in a book, or published on the web. That's why Google can't find it, but ChatGPT is able to present you with a satisfying answer.

Now whether the answer is correct is a different issue. Do you have the knowledge to verify this?

[inglor_cz]

OK, so I asked ChatGPT how to plant potatoes on Mars...

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Planting potatoes on Mars would be a pretty fascinating (and challenging) task! While Mars has conditions that make growing traditional crops difficult—like low temperatures, low atmospheric pressure, and a lack of oxygen—scientists have been experimenting with ways to grow plants in Martian-like conditions. Here’s an overview of the process:

1. Create a Controlled Environment:

Temperature: Mars’ average temperature is about -80°F (-60°C), far too cold for potatoes to grow. You’d need to create a greenhouse-like environment, potentially using materials like glass or transparent plastics, to keep the temperature warmer.

Atmosphere: Mars has only about 1% of Earth's atmospheric pressure, which is too low to support plant life. A sealed greenhouse would be required to provide a breathable atmosphere with adequate pressure and oxygen levels.

Light: Mars has less sunlight due to its distance from the Sun. You would need supplemental artificial light (perhaps LEDs) to mimic Earth’s daylight cycle for the plants.

2. Soil: Mars has soil, but it’s not exactly like Earth’s. It lacks organic material and has toxic elements like perchlorates that would harm plant growth. Scientists would need to either:

Modify Martian soil by adding organic material (like compost) and removing or neutralizing toxic chemicals.

Hydroponics: Grow potatoes without soil, using a nutrient-rich water solution instead.

[unification_fan]

You can ask it whatever you want but unless you do some pen and paper calculations to prove that whatever GPT says isn't bullshit, you're just writing fanfiction.

[dexwiz]

What is this supposed to prove? The question isn’t particular novel. There are decades of speculative terraforming discussions on the internet that you can search via Google, especially after the Martian book and movie.

[martin-t]

I get replies like this all the time and I am starting to conclude that most of the people arguing that LLMs are intelligent/reasoning are either completely clueless about what those words mean or are arguing in bad faith.

[inglor_cz]

It was supposed to prove nothing. I am not an expert on Mars and on a forum full of engineers, I expected someone more knowledgeable to start taking the answer apart systematically: this is truth, this is hallucination, this may be truth or not, but it is stated too optimistically.

I can see one thing. Mars is indeed further from the Sun than the Earth, but the light on the surface is probably still comparable to a slightly cloudy day on Earth, and plants grow just fine in slightly cloudy climates.

[bgnn]

To me this proves that LLMs are hallucinating.

None of these have any depth and most of the stuff it says are absurd.