I have already used ChatGPT as a sort of research tool a few times. Yesterday, I asked it who the Jon Stewart of the 80s was and then looked names up on Wikipedia and Google and tried to find Youtube clips. Here are some names it provided.
Mort Sahl
George Carlin
Bill Hicks
Molly Ivins
Studs Terkel
Alexander Cockburn
I concluded that Jon Stewart probably wasn't any better than similar figures in previous eras.
nah its pretty useful. i used it for diving through trans history and it brought up some very obscure indian sources that described the founder of the mughal empire as a crossdresser and one of his 'nieces' as a trans man and i dug into it and it was true. no way i would have found that on a normal google search. he even allowed this 'niece' to go after typical masculine pursuits.
you do need to ruthlessly fact check it but it can lead you down interesting rabbit holes
babur's biography has lots of frankly described gay shit i haven't read far enough that he has any nieces/nephews yet tho. the islamic world only became intensely homophobic in the 1800s through colonial european rule & imitation
No it isn't. Google search "who was the jon stewart of the 80s" gives me nothing but information about Jon Stewart. Some of the links say Jon Stewart was a bartender in the 80s. ChatGPT gave me names and short reasons for why they're similar, like this:
Alexander Cockburn: Cockburn was a left-wing journalist and commentator who gained a following in the 1980s and 1990s. He was known for his acerbic wit and his willingness to take on controversial topics like the Reagan administration's foreign policy and the influence of corporate money in politics.
ChatGPT can tell you what you should be searching for when the concept is too abstract and Google can't give you a page discussing precisely the topic you searched for.
I have already used ChatGPT as a sort of research tool a few times. Yesterday, I asked it who the Jon Stewart of the 80s was and then looked names up on Wikipedia and Google and tried to find Youtube clips. Here are some names it provided.
I concluded that Jon Stewart probably wasn't any better than similar figures in previous eras.
:jesse-wtf: thats just what regular google search would do. how did the chatbot help?
nah its pretty useful. i used it for diving through trans history and it brought up some very obscure indian sources that described the founder of the mughal empire as a crossdresser and one of his 'nieces' as a trans man and i dug into it and it was true. no way i would have found that on a normal google search. he even allowed this 'niece' to go after typical masculine pursuits.
you do need to ruthlessly fact check it but it can lead you down interesting rabbit holes
babur's biography has lots of frankly described gay shit i haven't read far enough that he has any nieces/nephews yet tho. the islamic world only became intensely homophobic in the 1800s through colonial european rule & imitation
No it isn't. Google search "who was the jon stewart of the 80s" gives me nothing but information about Jon Stewart. Some of the links say Jon Stewart was a bartender in the 80s. ChatGPT gave me names and short reasons for why they're similar, like this:
ChatGPT can tell you what you should be searching for when the concept is too abstract and Google can't give you a page discussing precisely the topic you searched for.
yeah after trying that i can see the usecase ig. much more accustomed to finding out the magic search terms myself though
it gives the illusion of social engagement and discussion
it can give better answers. Especially for a question that hasn't been specifically been answered on Reddit or something