Chat-GPT is NOT the Computer from Star Trek

The recording of my talk about Google searches, Chat-GPT, and the computers on Star Trek is now available. I will share it at the end of this post. Let me here illustrate the key point. OpenAI has emphasized from the outset what Chat-GPT is. It emulates human speech patterns. It does this remarkably well. They have been very clear what it is not. It is not a search engine. It is not designed, as it shuffles language into new patterns, to preserve and convey things that humans would identify as factual answers to our questions. It does not understand what you are saying nor what it is saying, and thus has no capacity to identify facts in the enormous sample of human text that serves as its basis for its own generated text.

As an example, before sharing the video, here is my recent attempt to interact with Chat-GPT that I thought would illustrate the point. I had been pondering the fact that John the Baptist’s image of not being worthy to untie the sandal strap is a ridiculously specific image. It is like someone saying they aren’t fit to fasten someone else’s cufflinks. It might be a way of saying you’re not worthy to be their valet (in the older Downton Abbey usage). Come to think of it, we might say we’re not worthy to drive someone else’s car. Another very specific image that is an odd way to make a general point. We also have disagreement among the Gospels about whether John says he is not worthy or not fit, and whether the action is untying or carrying the sandals. Why this particular imagery? I decided to use what I was thinking about in writing this post. You know how someone would address the computer on Star Trek and ask it for information? You can do that, and Chat-GPT will answer in something more like human speech than the computer on Star Trek. But because it does not provide information and has no capacity to do so other than accidentally on occasion as a byproduct of shuffling textual patterns that have information woven into them, it made things up.

Here is my interaction with the chatbot. My prompts are in bold. See if you can spot the fabrications.

Please list all references to someone carrying sandals in ancient Jewish literature.

I apologize, but I cannot list all references to someone carrying sandals in ancient Jewish literature as there are numerous texts that may mention sandals being carried, and it would be a daunting task to compile an exhaustive list. However, I can provide some examples of instances where sandals are carried in ancient Jewish literature:

1. In Exodus 3:5, when Moses encounters the burning bush, God tells him to take off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground.
2. In Ruth 4:7-8, as part of the ritual of a levirate marriage, Boaz gives his sandal to a closer relative who had declined to marry Ruth. This act symbolizes the transfer of the right to redeem the land and marry Ruth.
3. In Deuteronomy 25:9-10, if a man refuses to perform the levirate marriage, his sister-in-law would remove his sandal and spit in his face as a sign of contempt.
4. In the book of Joshua, when Joshua encounters the commander of the army of the Lord, he falls facedown to the ground in reverence and is told to take off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground (Joshua 5:13-15).

These are just a few examples, but there may be many more references to sandals being carried in ancient Jewish literature.

Thank you, these are very helpful. Are there others outside the Bible?

Yes, there are several references to sandals being carried in ancient Jewish literature outside of the Bible. Here are a few examples:

1. The Mishnah, a collection of Jewish oral traditions compiled in the 2nd century CE, discusses the carrying of sandals on the Sabbath. According to the Mishnah Shabbat 6:3, a person may carry one sandal in their hand or on their foot, but carrying two sandals is considered carrying a burden and is prohibited on the Sabbath.
2. The Talmud, a collection of Jewish writings that includes the Mishnah and additional commentary, also discusses the carrying of sandals. In the Talmud Yoma 77a, there is a discussion about the high priest removing his sandals when he enters the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur.
3. The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of Jewish texts from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE, includes a fragment known as 4QInstruction (4Q416) that references the carrying of sandals. The fragment advises the reader to be careful when walking, saying, “Do not walk with proud gait, or lift up your eyes too high, or take great strides; do not carry your sandals too far from your feet, or remove them too often” (translation by Geza Vermes).

These are just a few examples of references to sandals being carried in ancient Jewish literature outside of the Bible.

Who might carry someone else’s sandals in the ancient Mediterranean world?

In the ancient Mediterranean world, carrying someone else’s sandals was often considered a task performed by a servant or a low-status individual. The act of carrying someone’s sandals was seen as a menial and humble task, and was not typically performed by someone of higher social status.

In the Jewish context, for example, we see this in the story of John the Baptist, who said that he was not worthy to carry the sandals of Jesus (Mark 1:7, Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16). This statement emphasizes John’s humility and the superiority of Jesus.

In the Greco-Roman world, there are also references to the act of carrying sandals being performed by slaves or servants. For example, in the play “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes, a servant is tasked with carrying the sandals of his master’s wife.

Overall, the act of carrying someone else’s sandals was seen as a lowly task, often reserved for those of lower social status or as a way of showing humility and deference to someone of higher status.

As you can see, even though I never asked about John the Baptist, Chat-GPT had in its textual corpus more mentions of John the Baptist together with strap and sandal than probably all other references combined. It told me what I already knew, that this is traditionally interpreted as a sign of humility. It invented a quote from the Dead Sea Scrolls and mentioned Geza Vermes, not because it is trying to pretend to know but because these kinds of words are in relevant text from which it shuffled and reorganized. It doesn’t know it is lying, even though it seems as though it is intentionally trying to make made-up information seem authentic. Can something that isn’t a self-aware person lie? But by virtue of how it designed, when it does what it was designed to, it ends up imitating human speech as though it were the speech of an untrustworthy person prone to fabrication. It weaves in details that make what it says sound plausible not because it has a desire to deceive (it has no desire whatsoever) but because details that are correct happen to show up as it creatively shuffles what others have put in text for with related key words. What will it take for people to understand this and take it to heart? This is not the computer on Star Trek. We may or may not ever have it. Could you imagine the havoc that would result if the Enterprise had Chat-GPT installed instead of the imaginary computer it did?

Now here is the video of my talk.