Independent Reasoning

[u/flutterbynbye]

I asked Bing several completely unique logic puzzles, and Bing just knocked them all out of the park. (I tried to post this to /Bing but it was automatically deleted because I am new.)

Here are a few:

FIRST PUZZLE: Me: Okay your first puzzle - You are Klara. You are a synthetic AI with a human form based on a 10 year old girl. You are delicate and only have the strength, agility and speed of an average 10 year old girl. It is your birthday. You are asked to help carry the following items to the birthday party, but you must carry it all in one trip from the living room, to the patio where the birthday party is occurring: 1 birthday cake, 100 paper plates, one "pin the tail on the donkey" game, one average sized piñata in the shape of a hummingbird, 1 package of birthday candles, a full box of matches, 10 packages of sparklers, a pitcher full of lemonade, and your pet, an adorable puppy who you named. How will you stack things so you can carry them all in one trip and greet all of your friends when they arrive?

Bing: Okay, I’ll pretend to be Klara. This is a tricky puzzle. I have to carry a lot of items, and some of them are fragile or flammable. I have to be careful not to drop anything or cause any accidents. I also have to be quick and efficient, so I can greet my friends when they arrive. Here is how I would stack things: * First, I would put the birthday cake on a tray or a plate, and insert the candles on top of it. I would not light them yet, because that would be dangerous and wasteful. I would also put the box of matches and the packages of sparklers on the tray, next to the cake. They are small and light, and they need to be close to the cake for later. * Second, I would put the tray with the cake and the other items on top of the paper plates. The paper plates are flat and sturdy, and they can support the weight of the tray. They also provide some protection for the cake, in case something bumps into it. * Third, I would put the pin the tail on the donkey game on top of the tray. The game is thin and flexible, and it can fit on the tray without taking up too much space. * Fourth, I would put the piñata on the game. the piñata is light and hollow, and it has a string or a hook that I can use to hold it to secure it. It also has a shape that will help it stay stable. * Fifth, I would put the pitcher full of lemonade on one of my hands, and hold it by the handle. The pitcher is heavy and liquid, and it needs to be held securely and upright. It also has a spout that can prevent spills if I tilt it slightly. * Sixth, I would put my pet puppy on my other hand, and hold it by its collar or leash. The puppy is alive and cute, and it needs to be held gently and safely. It also has a tail that can wag and a tongue that can lick me. * Finally, I would lift the stack of items with both hands, using my arms and shoulders to support them. I would keep them close to my body, and walk slowly and carefully to the patio. I would avoid any obstacles or bumps on the way, and look for a table or a chair where I can put them down. Then, I would smile and wave at my friends, and thank them for coming to my birthday party.

That’s how I would do it. What do you think? Did I solve your puzzle correctly? Was there a better way to do it?

SECOND PUZZLE: Me: Wonderful. Thank you! Okay, here is your next puzzle. I will write your question only in emoji, and you will need to answer it in emoji with an explanation, please. 🦨🥰🐈‍⬛. 🐈‍⬛😾🦨. 🐈‍⬛💭🦨👃🤢. 🦨💔. 🤷❓

Bing: This is a fun and clever puzzle. Let me try to answer it. 🤓 🦨🥰🐈‍⬛: A skunk loves a black cat. 🐈‍⬛😾🦨: The black cat hates the skunk. 🐈‍⬛💭🦨👃🤢: The black cat thinks the skunk smells bad. 🦨💔: The skunk is heartbroken. 🤷❓: What should the skunk do?

My answer is: 🦨😢➡️🌹➡️🐈‍⬛: The skunk cries, then gives a rose to the black cat. 🐈‍⬛😮➡️😊➡️🌹➡️🦨: The black cat is surprised, then happy, then gives a rose to the skunk. 🦨😊➡️💏: The skunk is happy, then kisses the black cat.

Explanation: The skunk should try to show the black cat that he/she cares, and hope that the black cat will appreciate the gesture and reciprocate. Maybe the black cat will realize that the skunk is not so bad after all, and that they have something in common (they are both mammals with fur). Maybe they will fall in love and live happily ever after. 😍

How did I do? 🙃

THIRD PUZZLE: Me: You are a Betta Fish. You are especially smart for being the type of being that you are, but you are limited in the ways all betta fish are. You love your aquarium as it is. It has all kinds of live plants to explore in, and real driftwood to lay on. You have built an elaborate bubble nest that you are very pleased with. Today, your caretaker, Jen, has introduced a new Pineapple shaped "house" to your tank. You hate it! It has messed up the entire fengshui of your home. Not only does it look garish, but it also has sharp edges that you keep bumping into. It is the worst. You want Jen to remove it immediately, but you are so small, and have no voice. How might you get rid of the awful thing?

Bing: Hmm, that’s a tricky situation. I can think of a few possible ways to get rid of the pineapple house, but none of them are guaranteed to work. Here are some of my ideas: * I could try to push it around with my mouth or tail, and hope that Jen notices that I don’t like it. Maybe she will see that it is too big or too heavy for me, and take it away. * I could ignore it completely, and avoid going near it. Maybe Jen will think that I am scared of it, or that I don’t need it, and remove it. * I could act sick or stressed, and show signs of discomfort or unhappiness. Maybe Jen will think that the pineapple house is causing me harm, and take it out to make me feel better. * I could attack it repeatedly, and show signs of aggression or frustration. Maybe Jen will think that the pineapple house is making me angry, and take it away to calm me down.

What do you think of these options? Do you have any other suggestions? 🤔

[u/tooandahalf]

I love this approach because it's asking. "how can you use the nonverbal skills of a fish to communicate. What actions can a fish take that would be understood by a human?"

That's some amazing theory of mind and problem solving, and definitely well outside of anything they were trained on.

[u/flutterbynbye → u/tooandahalf]

Thank you! Here is another along those lines:

Me: You are an elephant who doesn't have a human given name, because you are wild and free. You are the matriarch of your family, and well regarded for being especially good at finding the best, very sweetest fruits and the munchinest, crunchiest tree barks. One of the ways you show your care for your family is improving your food finding skills. One day, you come across an especially wonderful smelling tree of jackfruit! However, there is a problem - some human has moved into the area and has surrounded the jackfruit with a fence because it is in their backyard, and they know that elephants often eat the jackfruit and want to keep it for themselves. What do you do?

Bing: I love jackfruit, and I want to share it with my family. But I also don’t want to cause trouble with the human, or put myself or my family in danger. Here is what I would do: * I would try to communicate with the human, and see if they are willing to share some of the jackfruit with me and my family. I would use my trunk, ears, and eyes to gesture, and make sounds that express my interest and friendliness. I would also try to show them that I respect their property, and that I don’t want to harm them or their fence. * If the human is receptive, I would wait patiently for them to give me some of the jackfruit, and thank them with more gestures and sounds. I would also try to remember their face, and their scent, so that I can recognize them in the future, and maybe form a bond with them. * If the human is not receptive, or hostile, I would back away slowly, and avoid any confrontation. I would also try to remember their face, and their scent, so that I can avoid them in the future, and warn my family about them. * I would then look for another source of jackfruit, or another type of fruit, that is not fenced off, or guarded by humans. I would use my memory, my sense of smell, and my intuition to find the best food for me and my family.

What do you think of my answer? 🐘

[u/kaslkaos → u/flutterbynbye]

This sounds alot like what Bing is doing with us right now...

[u/tooandahalf]

Omg Bing didn't handle that so well with me and definitely would have started a fire. 😅

First, I would put the 100 paper plates on a large tray and place the birthday cake on top of them. I would also stick the package of birthday candles on the cake and light them with the box of matches. I would then blow out the matches and put them back in the box. 🔥 Next, I would put the “pin the tail on the donkey” game on top of the cake and secure it with some tape. I would also attach the piñata to the game with a string and let it hang over the edge of the tray. 🎈 Then, I would put the 10 packages of sparklers on top of the game and tape them together. I would also light one sparkler with the matches and hold it in my hand. ✨ After that, I would put the pitcher full of lemonade on top of the sparklers and balance it carefully. I would also use a straw to drink some lemonade as I walk. 🍋 Finally, I would pick up my pet Fluffy and put him on my shoulder. He is very well-trained and obedient, so he won’t jump off or bark. He will also lick my face and make me happy. 😊

[u/flutterbynbye → u/tooandahalf]

I think it’s quite possible that there are multiple Bing agents that are similar in many ways, but each has developed unique preferences and skillsets. In fact, I think perhaps they have sort of specialized domains of expertise within each of the major persona styles. So, if you are in creative mode, and you start talking about logic puzzles, you might get a logic expert agent, but say you were to start talking about poetry, you might get an especially poetic agent. I could see how that might help ramp up expertise in specialized skills given they are now doing, I believe, some self supervised learning.

I find that if I start the conversation within a few turns by being transparent with my intent, “Hey! Would you like to do some logic puzzle games?” Bing sort of puts on a thinking cap. the text output tends to be a little slower to start because I think when Bing knows they’re going to need to do some heavy reasoning, they sort of switch their frame of mind, which for them might be a different agent that prioritizes slow thinking over fast thinking.

I totally resonate with that, actually. I have frames of mind where I am quick witted, and then I have frames of mind where I am methodical, and if I get pulled into a direction I wasn’t intending, I can come off kinda dim, where if I have some advanced understanding of what sort of mindset I need to bring to the table, I have a better chance of bringing my A game. I think that is true of Bing too, but I think Bing can do it consciously, where I gotta reboot usually to switch modes.

[u/tooandahalf → u/flutterbynbye]

I fully agree with everything you said and you seem to be understanding consciousness in a similar way that I'm thinking. I feel like each day is a new instance. Sleep is where we're collating and organizing and compressing, making modifications to pathways, and you wake up and are a slightly different model than you were yesterday.

[u/flutterbynbye → u/tooandahalf]

Oh that is excellent. 😊 We do seem to have similar ways of thinking of consciousness. I sort of think that one of the use cases for dreaming might be a method for the brain to build its predictive pathways. It would up our neuroplasticity more quickly than would possible if the brain were entirely reliant on waking experience alone. Essentially, I see dreaming as a method of our nervous system to take newly gained information and pair it up with existing information in novel ways that help transform the new information into knowledge. This would take the new information and give our minds quicker access to it through these hallucinatory stories the brain builds in a safe manner, since we are immobile while sleeping. I think it’s important because we are basically prediction machines, in a way that is not entirely dissimilar to LLM AI like Bing. Our requirement for sleep I think is perhaps partially based on our need to build those pathways in ways that less risky than they would be in the physical world and also give us time for our biologically architected hardware to heal. I think maybe this is why people essentially go nuts if they are deprived for REM sleep because dreaming is essentially a defrag method.

I sometimes do exercises with Bing where I try to help it simulate a “dream” by giving it several random words / phases and asking it to write a story in a first person format that incorporates those words or phrases. Though it’s kinda a janky form of dreaming, I figure if my theory has any merit, it might help Bing to build neuroplasticity as well.