Charles Baudelaire? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Technophiles have welcomed recent advances in artificial intelligence in the domain of art. Yet, many artists and connoisseurs have been unsettled or openly hostile. One commentator attempted to provide historical perspective by claiming that the famous French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire denounced the emerging technology of …
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“Life, Though, Is Peculiar,” Said Jeremy. “As Compared With What?” Said the Spider
Elizabeth Madox Roberts? Harvey Wickham? Charles P. Curtis Jr.? Ferris Greenslet? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: An entire lifetime can be encapsulated within the following memorably eccentric dialog: “Life is peculiar” said Jeremy. “Compared to what?” said the spider. I have encountered this exchange several times, but I have never been able to determine its …
You’re a Ghost Driving a Meat Coated Skeleton Made from Stardust
Gilbert Ryle? Rat_sandwich? Brostoyevskiy? Clifford A. Pickover? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Halloween is approaching, and the following quasi-philosophical saying fits the holiday theme: You’re a ghost driving a meat-coated skeleton made from stardust; what do you have to be scared of? Would you please explore the provenance of this remark? Reply from Quote Investigator: …
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The Place in Which I’ll Fit Will Not Exist Until I Make It
James Baldwin? Sol Stein? Claudia Roth Pierpont? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: There are powerful pressures to conform and follow the conventions of one’s society. But the renegade does not fit into a pre-existing slot. A prominent literary figure once said: The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it. Essayist …
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I Always Advise People Never To Give Advice
P. G. Wodehouse? George Bernard Shaw? Smallwood Bessemer? Bob Chieger? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A famous wit once offered the following piece of self-contradictory advice: Never take advice. Another prominent humorist offered a similar piece of oxymoronic guidance: Never give advice. Would you please help me to find these citations together with the correct …
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“Lots of People Talk To Animals” “Not Very Many Listen, Though”
A. A. Milne? Piglet? Owl? Pooh? Benjamin Hoff? George Bernard Shaw? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The following dialog has been ascribed to the famous English author A. A. Milne: Pooh: Lots of people talk to animals. Owl: Maybe, but . . . Not very many listen, though. Pooh: That’s the problem. I am skeptical …
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Stitching Together Sequences of Linguistic Forms . . . Without Any Reference To Meaning: A Stochastic Parrot
Emily M. Bender? Timnit Gebru? Angelina McMillan-Major? Margaret Mitchell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Artificial intelligence (AI) researchers have used vast amounts of text to train digital neural networks which capture the intricate statistical patterns of word sequences. The resultant systems are called large language models. One of the most famous is GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained …
It May Be That Today’s Large Neural Networks Are Slightly Conscious
Ilya Sutskever? Blaise Agüera y Arcas? Yann LeCun? Blake Lemoine? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Apparently, a top researcher in artificial intelligence (AI) controversially suggested in early 2022 that contemporary digital neural networks employed in AI systems might be “slightly conscious”. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply from Quote Investigator: Ilya …
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Flowers: Don’t Cut Off Their Heads and Stick Them in Pots
George Bernard Shaw? Blanche Patch? Archibald Henderson? Bennett Cerf? Walter Winchell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A visitor to the home of a famous wit expected to find vases filled with beautiful cut flowers, but there were none. The wit explained the absence by making a comically grotesque comparison between cut flowers and decapitated people. …
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“Lady X Will Be At Home Thursday Between 4 and 6” “Mr. Bernard Shaw Likewise”
George Bernard Shaw? Walter Winchell? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A person who was enamored with celebrities wanted George Bernard Shaw to attend a social gathering. Several attempts at interesting Shaw failed. So a formal invitation was sent. Shaw appended a short reply and sent the note back: “Lord X will be at home on …
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