> On Sep 12, 2025, at 1:10, Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]> wrote: > > As to ChatGPT (George), he, like me, is a plunger. Contrary to EricS, I did > NOT consult him until after I had consulted you-all. I was surprized when > he got the answer first pass. I flagged Jon Z on my original post, not > because he is a mathematician, but because he is also a musician. As such, > I thought he might break the semantic frame that others became ensnared in.
I like that Nick wrote (and will continue to write, no matter what I post) “I was surprized when he got the answer first pass.” The point being the definite article. I composed a long post on things I learned about the definite article from my late friend Sergei Starostin as a topicalizer in English, and (here on my own account, not from Sergei) the relation of topicalization to the theory of mind it expresses. And on the value judgments entailed about which riddles are “good” (as in, elegant or whatever), and condescension in terms like “ensnared”. But I had (oddly for me) the good judgment not to send it, because it was tedious. Eric
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