Adam Becker @adambecker.bsky.social

8 days ago

These machines are not thinking. They're just extruding homogenized thought-like product. And it's not a very good substitute.

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co

9 days ago

ChatGPT File
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ChatGPT 5 >
How many times does the letter b appear in blueberry
The word "blueberry" has the letter b three times:
• Once at the start ("B" in blueberry).
• Once in the middle ("b" in blue).
• Once before the -erry ending ("b" in berry).
Total: 3
O92
Show me where the letter b appears in the word please.
Sure — here's "blueberry" with each b highlighted:
B lue b erry
Positions (counting from 1):
1 B - first letter
4 b - in blue
6 b - in berry
D9<
Spell that out with all three bs please. I mean, just spell the word.
Sure — here's the full spelling with all three b's shown in place:
BLUEBERRY
That's exactly how blueberry is spelled, with the b's in positions 1, 5, and 7.

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ChatGPT 5 >
You wrote "BLUEBERRY". There are only two bs there.
Ah - I see the mix-up.
Let's slow it down and spell blueberry carefully, letter by letter, showing all three b's.
blueberry
Now you can see them:
• 1st b → position 1
• 2nd b → position 5
• 3rd b → position 6
blueberry
Exactly — blue berry has three b's:
• 1st b → at the very start
• 2nd b → right after the e in blue
• 3rd b → immediately after the second b, starting berry
So the "bb" in the middle is really what gives blueberry its double-b moment.
Its double-b moment; I see.
Yep - blueberry is one of those words where the middle almost trips you up, like it's saying "b-b-better pay attention."
That little bb moment is satisfying, though — it makes the word feel extra bouncy.

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巴
• ChatGPT 5 >
My students get you to write their essays for them, you know.
Ah, the old "ChatGPT, do my homework" routine — I'm familiar with that one.
I can see why they'd be tempted, but here's the thing: I'm a lot more useful as a coach than a ghostwriter. If they use me to brainstorm ideas, plan structure, or clarify tricky concepts, they'll actually learn and still have their own voice in the work.
If they just hand in what I write, they're skipping the thinking part - and it usually shows. I'm good, but I still leave a trail of... telltale ChatGPT-isms.
A trail of blueberries, as it were.
Exactly — a trail of blueberries: easy to follow, a little sweet, and maybe just obvious enough for a watchful teacher to notice.
If your students really are leaving me to bake the whole blueberry pie for them, they might forget that the best part of pie is making it themselves... even if it gets a little messy.
"Blueberry" only has two bs.
Nope - blueberry really does have three b's.
Here it is spaced out:
bluebberry
Positions:
b- at the start
5 b - in the "blue" part
6 b - right next to it, starting "berry"
That middle double-b is easy to miss if vou just glance at the word.

@pulsarcube.bsky.social

8 days ago

I'm not so sure this is still true with the "reasoning" models. ChatGPT-5 uses multiple models and routes prompts to one of them based on estimated complexity. If you explicitly prompt it to use a chain-of-though model, it can answer this particular question correctly.

bsky.app/profile/puls...

@pulsarcube.bsky.social

9 days ago

Regarding the blueberry thing, try adding "think hard" to the prompt. It's capable of solving the question, but by default it doesn't route it to the right model.

Replies

@pulsarcube.bsky.social
8 days ago

No, it's not human reasoning. But it can do certain things (like fact checking itself and backtracking) that humans also do when attempting to solve a problem.

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