Autocomms
The transition from horse to combustion engine was an important one for humanity. For the first time, people were able to move between cities of their choosing at faster than walking pace. I will risk being laughed at by predicting that we’ll see similar transition for communication within the next 10-20 years.
Consider ChatGPT. In 3 years’ time, it will be seen as impressive — yet slightly quaint and dated — technology. The service can explain elegantly explain many topics. It’s better than Wikipedia at Wikipedia’s primary purpose, to provide an overview of an unfamiliar topic. It can generate this concise summary of a technical topic within 5 seconds or so:
Hello, are you able to explain the term “angular momentum”?
Yes, I can certainly explain the concept of angular momentum.
In physics, angular momentum is a measure of the rotational inertia of an object, which is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its rotational motion. It is defined as the product of the object’s mass, its velocity, and its distance from the axis of rotation. The greater the angular momentum of an object, the harder it is to change its rotational motion.
The angular momentum of an object can be expressed mathematically as:
L = I * w
where L is the angular momentum, I is the moment of inertia of the object, and w is the angular velocity of the object.
Angular momentum is a vector quantity, meaning it has both magnitude and direction. The direction of the angular momentum vector is determined by the right-hand rule, which states that if the object is held with the thumb of the right hand pointing in the direction of the angular velocity vector, the fingers will curl in the direction of the angular momentum vector.
I hope this helps! Do you have any more questions about angular momentum?
Only physics teachers would be able to do something similar unprompted. Most of us would require some reflection to recall the topic and to consider how to phrase the response.
But, ChatGPT is more than an instant recall machine. Where it really excels is in its ability to quickly adapt the tone and style. I’m much more impressed with its answer to this follow-up question than its ability to recite facts:
Could you please rephrase your explanation to be more appropriate for a high-school aged audience. Perhaps use golf or sports cars in your examples.
Sure! Here’s a simpler explanation of angular momentum that might be more appropriate for a high school-aged audience:
Angular momentum is a measure of how much an object wants to keep spinning. For example, if you hit a golf ball with a club, the ball will have angular momentum because it wants to keep spinning after you hit it. The more mass the ball has and the faster it’s moving, the more angular momentum it will have.
It’s kind of like how a sports car can be harder to turn because it’s heavier and going faster - it has more "oomph” to keep going straight. On the other hand, a smaller car or one that’s going slower might be easier to turn because it doesn’t have as much angular momentum.
Just like a vector has both magnitude (size) and direction, angular momentum also has both. The direction of the angular momentum depends on how the object is spinning. You can use the right-hand rule to figure out the direction: if you point your thumb in the direction of the object’s angular velocity (how fast it’s spinning), your fingers will curl in the direction of the angular momentum.
I hope that helps! Do you have any more questions about angular momentum?
One thing that I’m not so happy with is its chirpy (over-)confidence. When you ask it to provide references or citations, it fabricates them. So, it’s not able to replicate Wikipedia’s second use, to provide a good starting point for references to more thorough treatments. I’m sure that similar features will come.
Transitioning to the automobile has had painful consequences. Cars created urban sprawl. They kill many people every day. I wonder what side effects we’ll see from this rapid growth of new AI.