Many writing gurus (🤮) keep parroting the mantra that originality in writing is good. They often don’t even bother to explain what originality is or why it’s good. When they do, rarely, it’s almost always about plot. As a result, we get overrated plots that are “original”, in the sense they are chaotic and nonsensical. Originality (especially when it comes to plot) is much less important than something else: authentic writing.
Sometimes people use these two words interchangeably, but there are crucial differences. Originality refers to rarity, whereas authenticity refers to something much more complex, which I’ll explore in this post: self-honesty.
From the audience’s perspective, it doesn’t really matter if the artist (whether a writer or a musician, as in the photo) actually feels their art or they pretend they do. However, from the artist’s perspective, it makes your job a hell of a lot easier if you, quoth Bill Hicks, “play from your fucking heart”(more…)
I recently read The Emperor’s New Mind, by Roger Penrose, and a small part of it describes the (in)famous Turing test. In simple terms, it’s a process where a machine (typically a computer) can demonstrate intelligence (and, some would argue, consciousness) enough to be indistinguishable from a human’s. With such intelligent and mature – cough, cough – artificial intelligence models like the ones we have today, the hilarious idea materialized: I should stage a ChatGPT vs Gemini Turing test!
Both Alan Turing himself and Penrose in his book expected future computers to be able to pass the test. Turing referred to a 30% success rate by the year 2000, whereas The Emperor’s New Mind, published in 1989, mentions the year 2010. In any case, to me it seems Turing would certainly assume a large language model like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini to pass the test.
I mean, it almost feels like magic: You ask it questions and it answers, seemingly “like a human”. Artificial intelligence can be an amazing tool – also for writers. But the whole concept behind a Turing test is to “unmask” artificiality. In other words, you only need one type of question to blow the computer’s cover.
And that’s what happened here. Hilariously, with the help of another computer!
Since my topic is a ChatGPT vs Gemini Turing test, I might as well use an AI render to visualize it…(more…)
Important Note: There are some more recent developments that occurred in the wake of the text below. Besides the recent changes described in this post, I decided to make the Home for Fiction apps Patreon-only content again. Yes, I admit it: I have been defeated. I was naive to think this could work, simply as a result of Disney-magic and people’s understanding. To put it plainly, I simply can’t afford to pay for the server resources required. It’s either this or nothing.
Everything below this point should be seen as a snapshot of history and might not reflect current reality.
You might have noticed some minor changes on Home for Fiction lately. Or then again, you might have not, and the only person reading this is me. Ironically enough, this very element (meta- time!) is part of the reason there have been such changes.
Among these recent changes, the most conspicuous must be the disappearance of comments and the lack of a link to the support page that used to decorate the header.
Moreover, if you’ve found this post coming from the common app interface (just try to visit any of the Home for Fiction apps), you have realized that all Home for Fiction apps are nowadays limited to a fixed number of users per day. Each user is also limited to a few boots per hour.
I want to explain all this – though, somewhat egotistically, not to you; the intended audience is I alone, as it has always been. Writing this post is only meant as a vehicle for putting my own thoughts in order and understanding something new. But if it’s informative to you, great!
Here’s an unimpressed cat to go with this post…(more…)
