As a highly trained professional in a complex field with rare skills, the main question on my mind is “Will I be replaced by a box in the corner ?” To answer this question I decided to put ChatGPT-4 to the test in the common-or-garden field of high-energy astrophysics and, in the interest of fairness, have it test me in its turn ! I can report that my job may be safe(ish), for now. It understood context uncannily well and got the main things right in frightening detail but needed prodding about important areas. When reminded of an omission it acted like it knew all along and filled in the…
Read More >>When Making the Nearest Black Hole, Three May Not Be a Crowd !
As a scientist who works in a black hole research group, I am often stopped on the street and asked “What is the nearest black hole to Earth?” to which I might mumble “Hmmm, oh, hmmm, I’m guessing its perhaps Cygnus X-1 ?”. ( In fact, its not. Cygnus X-1 is simply the first black hole discovered and the one of the brightest sources in X-rays which is why it was noticed in the first place ). Surely it is the intrinsic properties of astrophysical objects that make them scientifically interesting, such as mass, luminosity or the kind of companions they are associated with rather than things which depend on…
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