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by emil-lp 126 days ago
How is the question nonsensical? It's a perfectly valid question.
2 comments

Because validity doesn't depend on meaning. Take the classic example: "What is north of the North Pole?". This is a valid phrasing of a question, but is meaningless without extra context about spherical geometry. The trick question in reference is similar in that its intended meaning is contained entirely in the LLM output.
There's nothing syntactically meaningless about wanting your car washed.
I wasn't under the impression anyone was discussing car washing.
>>>>>>> Still fails the car wash question

>>>>>> Remarkable, since the goal is clearly stated

>>>>> Well it is...non-sensical...the car is already at the car wash

>>>> How is the [car wash] question nonsensical?

>>> Because validity doesn't depend on meaning.

>> There's nothing syntactically meaningless about wanting your car washed.

> I wasn't under the impression anyone was discussing car washing.

Maybe you replied to the wrong post by mistake?

I was not replying to your remark, but rather, a later comment regarding the "validity" vs "sensibility". I don't see where I made any distinction concerning wanting to wash cars.

But now I suppose I'll engage your remark. The question is clearly a trick in any interpretive frame I can imagine. You are treating the prompt as a coherent reality which it isn't. The query is essentially a logical null-set. Any answer the AI provides is merely an attempt to bridge that void through hallucinated context and certainly has nothing to do with a genuine desire to wash your car.

I wasn't under the impression anyone was discussing "genuine desire".
I agree that it doesn't break any rules of the English language, that doesn't make it a valid question in everyday contexts though.

Ask a human that question randomly and see how they respond.

Can you explain yourself? I can't see how this question doesn't make sense in any way.
Because to 99.9% people it’s obvious and fair to assume that person asking this question knows that you need a car to wash it. No one ever could ask this question not knowing this, so it implies some trick layer.