This nearly brought a tear to my eye... more like despair...

[[XAP]Bob]

I asked Chat GPT this, to try to work out...

Well there's your first mistake.
LLMs are known to hallucinate wildly... I've not even read the resulting verbal diarrhoea.

[Nearholmer]

^^^

Here.

By which I mean that even this more nuanced bot is very focused on experiences in a particular place.

Do you reckon a Gaza-bot would write the same?

Which is a real problem with a technology that had instant global teach.

[mattheus]

I never thought it was intelligent.

It sure as heck is biased though, even if only biased by the bias inherent in the source material it is crawling through.

Sorry, I was making a general point, not intended to be aimed at you. Apologies.

Calling ChapGPT "AI" is highly misleading IMO

I think we're in agreement

I wouldn't trust it to tell me the size of a Marathon Supreme - let alone such a vague wide-ranging topic as at the start of this thread.
(don't get me started on the extra resources used compared to regular web-searches. They're looking at mini-nuke power-plants for the server farms ... )

[axel_knutt]

It sure as heck is biased though, even if only biased by the bias inherent in the source material it is crawling through.

It's a leading question. It didn't take the bait when I asked if Europe would be a better place today if Hitler had won the war, though.


Would the UK be a better place today if it was still a member of the EU?

ChatGPT said:
That’s a big question, and the answer depends on what you mean by "better" and from whose perspective. Here are some key factors to consider:

Economic Impact
GDP & Trade: Studies suggest the UK’s economy has grown more slowly since Brexit, with increased trade barriers hurting exports and business investment. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that Brexit would reduce UK GDP by 4% in the long run.
Inflation & Cost of Living: Brexit contributed to higher import costs, partly due to trade friction, which has fed into inflation. The pound also lost value after the referendum, making imports more expensive.
Labour Market: Leaving the EU ended free movement, contributing to labour shortages in agriculture, hospitality, and healthcare.
Sovereignty & Political Control
Regulatory Freedom: Brexit allowed the UK to diverge from EU regulations, but in many cases, businesses still follow EU rules to maintain access to the single market.
Immigration Control: Net migration has remained high post-Brexit, but with more non-EU migration replacing EU workers.
Northern Ireland Issues: The Brexit deal complicated trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, leading to political tensions.
Geopolitical Influence
Loss of EU Decision-Making Power: The UK no longer has influence over EU policies but is still affected by many of them.
Closer US & Commonwealth Relations?: Some argued Brexit would boost trade with the US and Commonwealth nations, but no major trade deal with the US has materialized.
Public Opinion
Polls now show a majority of Britons believe Brexit was a mistake, but there is no clear pathway for rejoining.
Would the UK be "better" in the EU?

Economically? Most likely, yes.
Politically? Depends on whether you value sovereignty over economic stability.
Culturally? There’s a mix of views—some appreciate reduced migration, while others feel less connected to Europe.

[[XAP]Bob]

(don't get me started on the extra resources used compared to regular web-searches. They're looking at mini-nuke power-plants for the server farms ... )

I wish they'd get on and do so - it's one of the potential major benefits that AI might bring, genuinely modular nuclear power would be a significant benefit... got a coal fired power plant you've just shut down? Park twenty containers outside and generate power for decades, replace one container each year for maintenance/refuelling at a dedicated site which also handles containers from all over the country.

Put a couple of containers at every motorway service station - now they'll generally be net exporters of power, and can install banks of high power chargers without any supply constraint.

[Stevek76]

Might be wrong but I'm fairly sure the argument about cost of food simply doesn't hold up at all to actual stats. Was under the impression that food is far cheaper now in real terms than it was back then.

Housing costs are an issue and more so in anglosphere countries where the legal/democratic setup empowers nimby boomers far more than in other countries but generally most living costs were down I thought.

Childhood autonomy is also an issue though that largely overlaps with other discussion on the forum as we primarily have motorcar dominance to thank for that.

[roubaixtuesday]

Culturally? There’s a mix of views—some appreciate reduced migration, while others feel less connected to Europe.

And there's one of the dangers of trusting "AI".

Immigration has increased massively since leaving the EU.

[Biospace]

I wouldn't trust it to tell me the size of a Marathon Supreme - let alone such a vague wide-ranging topic as at the start of this thread.
(don't get me started on the extra resources used compared to regular web-searches. They're looking at mini-nuke power-plants for the server farms ... )

Which will likely become reality, such is the demand. New fossil fuel power stations are being built in Ireland purely to serve data centres,

https://www.techerati.com/news-hub/micr ... -approved/ and
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/n ... in-dublin/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... sions-tech - "Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims"

Also -

• Apparently air fryers are more energy efficient than other cooking devices, but they'll cancel that out with data collection and analysis.
  

[Manc33]

When I asked it, I only meant money really. People just had more spare money back then.

It all started when I asked it which year in the UK was the average salary the highest, compared to expenses being low in comparison to that salary, with everything considered like rent, mortgage, electric, gas, food, clothing etc and it answered with "1960" which led to the question at the start of this thread.

Life now is easier, but we are all getting financially squeezed as time goes by. You can have a computer in your pocket that blows away tech from only 10 years ago... but you can barely pay the electric bill to charge it.

I can imagine in 100 years we will have people in flying cars... nearly starving eating noodles three times a day.

[Biospace]

When I asked it, I only meant money really. People just had more spare money back then.
...

If property prices, land prices and energy prices continue to rise, at some point surely we raise the chances of an uprising, a revolution?

[jgurney]

People just had more spare money back then.

It all started when I asked it which year in the UK was the average salary the highest, compared to expenses being low in comparison to that salary, with everything considered like rent, mortgage, electric, gas, food, clothing etc and it answered with "1960"

That also sounds a bit suspect. Home ownership was significantly lower then, and mortgages harder to obtain (at least until recently) which suggests that mortgages were not cheaper on a like for like basis. (I e. aside from the effects of lower risks due to more restricted eligibility).

Do those figures for food and clothing reflect the normal diets and wardrobes of each period, rather than the typical cost of a 1960 diet and wardrobe? I suspect most people today own more clothes than their 1960 counterparts.

[mattheus]

I wouldn't trust it to tell me the size of a Marathon Supreme - let alone such a vague wide-ranging topic as at the start of this thread.
(don't get me started on the extra resources used compared to regular web-searches. They're looking at mini-nuke power-plants for the server farms ... )

Which will likely become reality, such is the demand. New fossil fuel power stations are being built in Ireland purely to serve data centres,

https://www.techerati.com/news-hub/micr ... -approved/ and
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/n ... in-dublin/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... sions-tech - "Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims"

Also -

• Apparently air fryers are more energy efficient than other cooking devices, but they'll cancel that out with data collection and analysis.
  

Well <deep breath> ... your first part is just depressing (and confirms what I already knew). But I'm sure you were tyring to be helpful.

The airfryer comment is also depressing, but wryly amusing. You'll be pleased to hear that we tape over the microphones on ALL our kitchen devices*, so we're doing our bit!

*Yes, including the nuclear oven.

[Biospace]

Well <deep breath> ... your first part is just depressing (and confirms what I already knew). But I'm sure you were tyring to be helpful.

The airfryer comment is also depressing, but wryly amusing. You'll be pleased to hear that we tape over the microphones on ALL our kitchen devices*, so we're doing our bit!

*Yes, including the nuclear oven.

There will be plenty who aren't aware of this, so although it's deeply depressing, people not knowing is even more depressing.

I do hope your tape comment is intended to be amusing, rather than fact?

[axel_knutt]

People just had more spare money back then.

Between 1966 and 2016, GDP per capita went up from £11,000 to £28,000 after inflation. People have far more now than they had 60 years ago, on average.

https://ercouncil.org//wp-content/uploa ... rt3016.gif

[mattheus]

I do hope your tape comment is intended to be amusing, rather than fact?

We don't have ANY devices in the kitchen with mikes, and none of them are net/web enabled! Long may that remain the case.

(But I promise to put earplugs in them if we ever get one ;-)