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ChatGPT spitballing fundamental physics theories

ramrajv.com

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Re: ChatGPT spitballing fundamental physics theories

#2
I’m not a physicist myself but interested in it, and this was one of the topics I thought I’ll coax the bot into imagining. The theories might not be solid (I wouldn’t know myself), but I’m excited about the bots future as a companion for every day work in science.

I’m a biologist by training and have already made significant progress on multiple difficult questions I’ve had trouble with for decades in the 2 days I’ve had gpt4. Can’t wait to see what all we could accomplish with it!

Re: ChatGPT spitballing fundamental physics theories

#3
post #2

I’m not a physicist myself but interested in it, and this was one of the topics I thought I’ll coax the bot into imagining. The theories might not be solid (I wouldn’t know myself), but I’m excited about the bots future as a companion for every day work in science. I’m a biologist by training and have already made significant progress on multiple difficult questions I’ve had trouble with for decades in the 2 days I’v…

"made significant progress on multiple difficult questions I’ve had trouble with for decades in the 2 days I’ve had gpt4" -- that is wildly impressive. Can you share some specific questions. Thanks!

Re: ChatGPT spitballing fundamental physics theories

#5
Love it.

A few days ago I did a similar exercise playing with alternative definitions of gravity.

It was even able to provide (GlowScript 3.1!) code to run a simulation using the concepts we developed (and it worked).

It’s amazing the feeling of going back and forth, iterating quickly on the ideas and then being able to generate code to test them.

Re: ChatGPT spitballing fundamental physics theories

#6
post #2

I’m not a physicist myself but interested in it, and this was one of the topics I thought I’ll coax the bot into imagining. The theories might not be solid (I wouldn’t know myself), but I’m excited about the bots future as a companion for every day work in science. I’m a biologist by training and have already made significant progress on multiple difficult questions I’ve had trouble with for decades in the 2 days I’v…

"made significant progress on multiple difficult questions I’ve had trouble with for decades in the 2 days I’ve had gpt4" -- that is wildly impressive. Can you share some specific questions. Thanks!

I have had hypotheses regarding Epigenetic modulation of mutation rates playing a role in “epigenetically directed evolution;” this is not my primary field and honestly not a topic anyone has properly focused on. I’ve even corresponded with a couple of experts in related fields but didn’t make progress. Chatting with the bot I discovered scientists who might have actually generated some data on this topic a bit inadvertently that I never discovered merely by googling. I’ve made a list and am going through the literature already. I can’t imagine what else I can do with this tool if I can drag and drop pdfs for it to get more context on such arcane topics.

Re: ChatGPT spitballing fundamental physics theories

#7
post #4

It's certainly handy for summarising the existing corpus that we are unfamiliar with (though take acuracy with a grain of salt). Proposing new theories I'd be extremely skeptical of. It's just not what this thing is made to do.

It’s not gonna spew completely solid hypotheses but I can see how these ideas can be amazing seeds for us to pursue further. Importantly I asked it to think like Einstein. In exchanges I didn’t put here, it first just said Einstein would have worked on string theory if he were alive today. I reminded it that einsteins unique ability was to imaginatively think of completely new ideas. It then spewed these two topics. It’s like asking it to write songs in a particular poets style but for science. That sounds amazing to me.

Importantly it clearly has some understanding of these theories. At least as much as any regular person would, in my opinion.

Re: ChatGPT spitballing fundamental physics theories

#8
post #5

Love it. A few days ago I did a similar exercise playing with alternative definitions of gravity. It was even able to provide (GlowScript 3.1!) code to run a simulation using the concepts we developed (and it worked). It’s amazing the feeling of going back and forth, iterating quickly on the ideas and then being able to generate code to test them.

Was it with gpt3x or 4? In these exercises 4 is miles ahead now, I’ll highly recommend ponying the 20 bucks and playing with it to see for yourself!

Re: ChatGPT spitballing fundamental physics theories

#10
post #8
post #5

Love it. A few days ago I did a similar exercise playing with alternative definitions of gravity. It was even able to provide (GlowScript 3.1!) code to run a simulation using the concepts we developed (and it worked). It’s amazing the feeling of going back and forth, iterating quickly on the ideas and then being able to generate code to test them.

Was it with gpt3x or 4? In these exercises 4 is miles ahead now, I’ll highly recommend ponying the 20 bucks and playing with it to see for yourself!

It was with gpt3. Already tried a couple of previous convos with gpt4 and noticed the difference.

Will have to try the gravity one now.

Thanks for the recommendation!

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