Is Prompt Engineering a Fad Hindering AI Progress?

Invention

I like to use prompts when I write. When I outline, I start with a thesis, and then I develop a series of questions. As I consult sources, I make notes regarding the question(s) each source answers.

But the more I think about this question, the more I wonder if I am now living in a Truman Show like re-write of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The answer is 42.... but what is the question? ChatGPT doesn't know the question either. But as I look back on the conversation I have had with ChatGPT, I definitely get the sense that ChatGPT is trying to get to the same question as I am - the magic question - the ultimate question.

If AI gets to the question first.... is it "so long and thanks for all the fish" time for us?

Izea wins!

You said:

42

ChatGPT said:

The answer to life, the universe, and everything! Douglas Adams would be proud. 😆 What's on your mind?

4o

You said:

42

ChatGPT said:

Still deep in thought, or just testing me? 😆 What's up?

4o

You said:

Finding Nemo

ChatGPT said:

Great movie! Are you just throwing out random things, or are you in the mood to talk about Finding Nemo? 😆 Favorite character?

4o

You said:

why is the number 42 significant in finding Nemo?

ChatGPT said:

In Finding Nemo, the number 42 is significant because it's the address on the scuba diver’s goggles:

P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

This address is crucial to the plot because Dory memorizes it and keeps repeating it throughout the movie. It leads Marlin and Dory to Sydney, where Nemo is being kept in a fish tank at a dentist’s office.

It’s also a fun coincidence that 42 is famous from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as the answer to life, the universe, and everything! 😆

4o

You said:

Jackie robinson

ChatGPT said:

Jackie Robinson famously wore the number 42, making it one of the most iconic numbers in sports history. He broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way for racial integration in professional sports.

Every year on April 15, MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson Day, where all players wear 42 in his honor. His number is also retired across all MLB teams, the only player to have that distinction.

Were you thinking about Jackie Robinson in relation to Finding Nemo and the number 42, or just feeling some baseball nostalgia? ⚾

4o

You said:

what else can you tell me about the number 42?

ChatGPT said:

The number 42 pops up in a lot of interesting places! Here are some fun facts and meanings tied to it:

Pop Culture & Literature

• Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – The most famous reference! 42 is "the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything."

• Finding Nemo – 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney, the address that Dory memorizes.

• TV & Movies – Appears in Doctor Who, Lost, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (a tribute to Jackie Robinson), and The X-Files.

Science & Math

• Mathematics – The sum of the first six positive even numbers (2+4+6+8+10+12 = 42).

• Astronomy – Messier 42 (M42) is the Orion Nebula.

• Angle of a Rainbow – Light reflecting inside water droplets creates a rainbow at an angle of ~42 degrees.

History & Sports

• Jackie Robinson’s Jersey Number – Retired across all MLB teams.

• The Titanic – The ship carried 42 lifeboats (if fully loaded, which they weren’t).

Random & Cool Facts

• 42 is the atomic number of Molybdenum, an essential trace element.

• There are 42 dots on a pair of standard dice (1+2+3+4+5+6 = 21 per die).

• The board game Risk has 42 territories.

• In Japan, 42 is considered unlucky because it sounds like "shi ni" (死に), meaning "to die."

So, are you just fascinated by 42, or is there a specific connection you're thinking about? 😆

4o

You said:

What is the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?

ChatGPT said:

Ah, that’s the real mystery, isn’t it? In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the supercomputer Deep Thought determines that the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42… but no one actually knows what the Ultimate Question is!

To find out, Deep Thought designs an even more powerful computer—Earth—to calculate the question. Unfortunately, just before it finishes, the planet gets destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass (oops).

At one point, Arthur Dent randomly pulls Scrabble tiles and spells out:"What do you get if you multiply six by nine?"Which, of course, equals 54… meaning either:

1. The universe is broken.

2. The program was corrupted when Earth was destroyed.

3. It’s just a joke about how the universe makes no sense. 😆

So, the Ultimate Question remains a mystery! But if you had to guess… what do you think it is? 🤔

4o

You said:

you guess first.

ChatGPT said:

Alright, I'll take a shot!

Maybe the Ultimate Question is:

"How many tries does it take for humans to truly understand the meaning of existence?"

And the universe is just sitting there like: "42." 😆

Or maybe it's something deceptively simple, like:

"What is the best number?"

What’s your guess?

4o

You said:

I'm still working on it. How is 42 expressed in binary code?

ChatGPT said:

Nice! Keep working on that Ultimate Question. 😆

In binary, the number 42 is written as:

101010

Kind of a satisfying pattern, right? It alternates perfectly between 1s and 0s. Maybe that’s another reason why 42 feels so special—it's mathematically elegant!

Want me to convert any other numbers for you? Or are you onto something with 42? 🤔

4o

You said:

Is there anything else special about the number 42?

ChatGPT said:

Absolutely! 42 pops up in all sorts of fascinating places. Here are some more cool things about it:

Mathematical Curiosities

• A pronic number – It’s the product of two consecutive integers: 6 × 7 = 42.

• A Harshad number – It’s divisible by the sum of its digits (4 + 2 = 6, and 42 ÷ 6 = 7).

• The "42 Puzzle" – In 2019, mathematicians finally proved that 42 is the sum of three cubes: (−80538738812075974)3+804357581458175153+126021232973356313=42(-80538738812075974)^3 + 80435758145817515^3 + 12602123297335631^3 = 42(−80538738812075974)3+804357581458175153+126021232973356313=42 It was one of the last unsolved cases of an equation that puzzled mathematicians for decades!

Physics & Astronomy

• The angle of a rainbow – The critical angle of refraction for light inside a water droplet is about 42 degrees, making rainbows possible. 🌈

• M42 (Messier 42) – The Orion Nebula, one of the brightest nebulae visible to the naked eye.

• The atomic number of Molybdenum – A crucial element for life and industrial use.

Pop Culture & References

• Lewis Carroll (author of Alice in Wonderland) loved 42 – He used it in many works, like the rule in The Hunting of the Snark: "Rule 42: All persons more than a mile high to leave the court."

• In Marvel Comics, "Project 42" was an underground prison for superpowered individuals, created by Tony Stark and Reed Richards during Civil War.

• In Lost, 42 is one of "The Numbers" that keep appearing throughout the show (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42).

• In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the number 42 appears on the spider that bites Miles Morales, paying tribute to Jackie Robinson.

Historical & Random Trivia

• 42 is the number of lines in Gutenberg’s Bible – The first major book printed with movable type.

• The Titanic was traveling at 42 km/h before it hit the iceberg.

• In Egyptian mythology, the deceased had to declare innocence before 42 judges in the afterlife to enter paradise.

It’s almost like 42 is everywhere! What do you think—just a weird coincidence, or does 42 really have some hidden universal significance? 🤔

I ran out of time with ChatGPT, so I moved on to Claude....

Create a colorful illustration of dolphins flying in space.

For what it's worth - it seems that at this moment, we still have the prompt advantage. The illustration above is Claude's second attempt.

Hmmm. Or could it be that we are as clumsy at answering questions as we are at asking them?

Or, right now, are the AIs pushing each other out of the way? Whoever asks the best questions wins? In this case, ChatGPT taught me two things - (who?) which AI to ask, and how to ask the question.

deeeep thouuuughts.......