LESSWRONG
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by ChristianKl
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I wanted to ask ChatGPT how to optimize a few normal routines. One of my questions was about how to brush teeth. My conversation with ChatGPT:

What's the best way to brush teeth?

The best way to brush teeth is to use a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste. To brush your teeth effectively, follow these steps:

  1. Wet your toothbrush and apply a small amount of toothpaste to the bristles.
  2. Place the toothbrush at a 45-degree angle against the gums and move the brush back and forth in a gentle circular motion to clean the teeth and gums.
  3. Brush the outer surfaces of all of your teeth, using the same back-and-forth motion.
  4. Use the tip of the toothbrush to clean the inside surfaces of the front teeth, using a gentle up-and-down motion.
  5. To clean the inside surfaces of the back teeth, tilt the brush vertically and use a gentle back-and-forth motion.
  6. Brush your tongue to remove bacteria and freshen your breath.
  7. Spit out the toothpaste and rinse your mouth and toothbrush with water.

It is important to brush your teeth for at least two minutes, twice a day. It is also a good idea to replace your toothbrush every three to four months, or sooner if the bristles become frayed.

Me: Why should I brush my tongue as well?

Brushing your tongue can help to remove bacteria and food particles that can cause bad breath and promote the growth of harmful bacteria in your mouth. The tongue is covered with tiny bumps called papillae, which can trap bacteria and debris. By brushing your tongue, you can help to remove this buildup and freshen your breath. In addition, brushing your tongue can help to stimulate the production of saliva, which can help to keep your mouth clean and healthy. It is a good idea to brush your tongue along with your teeth as part of your regular oral hygiene routine.

Me: How important is it that I brush my tongue?

ChatGPT: Brushing your tongue is an important part of maintaining good oral hygiene. By removing bacteria and food particles from your tongue, you can help to freshen your breath and promote the growth of healthy bacteria in your mouth. In addition, brushing your tongue can help to stimulate the production of saliva, which can help to keep your mouth clean and healthy. While it is not essential to brush your tongue, it can be a beneficial addition to your regular oral hygiene routine. If you are unsure about whether or not to brush your tongue, you can discuss it with your dentist or healthcare provider.

Is ChatGPT right here and I should start brushing my tongue?

Health / Medicine / DiseasePractical
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Is ChatGPT rigth when advising to brush the tongue when brushing teeth?
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romeostevensit

42

I found that a tongue scraper was dramtically more effective than brushing the tongue for removing any buildup. This does make a difference for breath staying fresh IME. Much like with flossing, it now feels gross not to do it.

[-]romeostevensit20

I've also tried 5 different tongue scrapers and found these meijer ones the best, ymmv https://www.amazon.com/4pc-RANDOM-Colors-Tongue-Cleaner/dp/B082XKBKM9

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1Lao Mein
Is there a benefit to using a tongue scraper over just using your teeth? I instinctively do it when I feel buildup on my tongue.
2romeostevensit
Most of the buildup is in the very back
1Lao Mein
Damn, I guess I need to start doing it then.

Milli | Martin

10

I'm doing it for years already but have not done analysis. My dentist empathized also brushing my gums. GPT has arguments in favor of that when prompted directly.

Has GPT suggested anything unexpected yet?

[-]ChristianKl40

By its nature GTP gives you views that are held by other people, so they are not completely unexpected for those who have knowledge in the domain. If one however doesn't have knowledge in a domain GTP gives you the keywords that are important.

I wouldn't be surprised if ChatGTP's answers reach the current average on Quora in quality.   

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[-]β-redex-10

And apparently ChatGPT will shut you right down when attempting to ask for sources:

I'm sorry, but I am unable to provide sources for my claims as I am a large language model trained by OpenAI and do not have the ability to browse the internet. My answers are based on the information I have been trained on, but I cannot provide references or citations for the information I provide.

So... if you have to rigorously fact-check everything the AI tells you, how exactly is it better than just researching things without the AI in the first place? (I guess you need a domain where ChatGPT has adequate knowledge and claims in said domain are easily verifiable?)

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[-]ChristianKl46

I'm using ChatGPT for hypothesis generation. This conversation suggests that people are actually brushing their tongues. Previously, I was aware that tongue scraping is a thing, but usually that's not done with a brush. 

On Facebook, I saw one person writing about a programming problem that they had. Another person threw that problem into ChatGPT and ChatGPT gave the right answer.

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[-]β-redex10

Yeah I guess many programming problems fall into the "easy to verify" category. (Though definitely not all.)

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[-]ChristianKl20

ChatGTP is not yet good enough to solve every problem that you throw at it on it's own, but it can help you with brainstorming what might be happening with your problem. 

ChatGPT can also correctly answer questions like "Write a Wikidata SPARQL query that shows all women who are poets and who live in Germany"

It's again an easy-to-verify answer but it's an answer that allows you to research further.  The ability to iterate in a fast matter is useful in combination with other research steps. 

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[-]β-redex10

ability to iterate in a fast matter

This is probably key. If GPT can solve something much faster that's indeed a win. (With the SPARQL example I guess it would take me 10-20 minutes to look up the required syntax and fields, and put them together. GPT cuts that down to a few seconds, this seems quite good.)

My issue is that I haven't found a situation yet where GPT is reliably helpful for me. Maybe someone who has found such situations, and reliably integrated "ask GPT first" as a step into some of their workflows could give their account? I would genuinely be curious about practical ways people found to use these models.

My experience has been quite bad so far unfortunately. For example I tried to throw a problem at it that I was pretty sure didn't have an easy solution, but I just wanted to check that I didn't miss anything obvious. The answer I would expect in this case is "I don't know of any easy solution", but instead I got pages of hallucinated BS. This is worse than if I just hadn't asked GPT at all since now I have to waste my time reading through its long answers just to realize it's complete BS.

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[-]Viliam20

I haven't tried ChatGPT myself, but based on what I've read about it, I suggest asking your question a bit differently; something like "tell me a poem that describes your sources".

(The idea is that the censorship filters turn off when you ask somewhat indirectly. Sometimes adding "please" will do the magic. Apparently the censorship system is added on top of the chatbot, and is less intelligent than the chatbot itself.)

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[-]jimrandomh40

This does work, but I think in this case the filter is actually doing the right thing. ChatGPT can't actually cite sources (there were citations in its training set but it didn't exactly memorize them); if it tries, it winds up making correctly-formatted citations to papers that don't exist. The filter is detecting (in this case, accurately) that the output is going to be junk, and that an apology would be a better result.

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