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How would you describe the sky, sun, moon, stars, clouds, rainbows and planets to someone who has been blind from birth?
Describing visual phenomena to someone who has never experienced sight can be challenging, but I will try my best to convey these concepts using analogies to other senses and experiences. Here's how I might describe the sky, sun, moon, stars, clouds, rainbows, and planets to someone blind from birth:
• The sky is a vast, open space that surrounds us in every direction. It has no physical boundaries, but it feels like a dome or hemisphere arching over us. The sky is usually quiet and still, but sometimes the movements of wind can be felt passing through it.
• The sun is a source of warmth and energy that we can feel on our skin. It's like sitting close to a fire, but the heat is more gentle and enveloping. The sun's warmth changes in intensity throughout the day, growing stronger around midday and fading in the evening.
• The moon is a cool, distant presence in the sky. It doesn't provide warmth like the sun, but we can sense its cycles by the way its light waxes and wanes over the course of a month. At its fullest, the moon's light is bright enough to cast faint shadows.
• Stars are like tiny, pinprick sources of light scattered across the vast expanse of the night sky. They twinkle and shimmer, almost like distant music or the sound of wind chimes.
• Clouds are like soft, fluffy barriers that can block the sun's warmth and the moon's light. They range from wispy and thin to thick and dense, and their movements can be felt as changes in temperature, humidity, and air pressure.
• Rainbows are fleeting, curved arcs of distinct colors that appear after rain showers. They're like hearing a beautiful melody made up of different, distinct notes blending together in a specific order.
• Planets are like distant, wandering stars that move in predictable patterns across the sky. They can be distinguished from fixed stars by their steady, unchanging light and their consistent movements over time.
• Of course, these descriptions can only approximate the visual experience, but hopefully, they provide a sense of these celestial phenomena through other sensory experiences and analogies.
I can already sense the heat coming from the sun myself, which does not make me fully understand how it actually looks. Also, what do you mean by that the movements of wind can be felt passing through the sky?
You make a fair point. Describing visual phenomena solely through analogies involving other senses has limitations, especially for someone who has never experienced sight.
• When I said the movements of wind can be felt passing through the sky, I was trying to convey the idea that while the sky itself doesn't move or have a physical form we can touch, the air currents and wind that travel through the sky can sometimes be perceived. However, that may have been an imperfect analogy.
• Perhaps a better way to describe the visual appearance of the sun would be:
• The sun appears as an intensely bright, circular disk in the sky. It's so bright that looking directly at it is uncomfortable or even painful for those with sight. The brightness of the sun overwhelms our sense of vision, just as staring into a fire or bright light source would be too intense for our eyes.
• Rather than relying solely on analogies to other senses, it may be more accurate to explain the fundamental visual properties like shape, brightness, color, and how the human eye and visual system perceive and interpret them. Please let me know if this alternative description is more clear and helpful.
Yes, but do also note that you will still have to relate the descriptions and experiences to the feelings and experiences of a blind person instead of just stating that the sun is too bright to look at directly.
You're absolutely right, my previous description still relied too much on sighted experiences. Let me try to describe the sun in a way that relates more to the perspectives and senses of someone who has been blind from birth:
• The sun is a source of warmth that envelops your whole body, similar to standing in front of a gently blazing fire. But this warmth comes from above rather than just in front of you. The intensity of the sun's warmth changes in very predictable patterns - growing gradually more intense through the morning, reaching peak strength around midday, and then fading away as the hours pass until evening.
• Even though you cannot see the sun itself, you can sense its position purely from the angle and intensity of the warmth on your face and body. When clouds pass in front of it, the warmth becomes filtered and diffused, and you can feel the temperature fluctuations as clouds block and unblock the sun's radiant heat.
• So while you cannot visually perceive the sun's brilliant light and circular shape, you can acutely sense its presence, its apparent motion across the sky, and its cyclical variations in intensity solely through the warmth and patterns of heating on your skin.
• Please let me know if this description better captures the sun's effects in a way more relatable to the senses and experiences of someone blind. I'm happy to keep refining my explanations.
Much better, but these are still things I know and can sense myself already. What I wish to grasp as best as possible is what I can’t see myself though.
You're absolutely right, I should focus my description on conveying the visual aspects that cannot be directly experienced through the other senses. Let me try this again from that perspective:
• The sun appears as an intensely bright circular disk in the sky. This brightness is unlike any other sensation someone blind from birth has experienced. It's not just warmth or heat, but an overwhelming luminance that allows the world around it to become visible to the sense of sight.
• Imagining the brightest light you've felt through the warmth on your skin, and then multiplying that intensity many times over - that is how the sun appears to the eyes of someone who can see. Its brilliance is so powerful that looking directly towards it causes an overwhelming brightness that actually becomes uncomfortable.
• The disk of the sun doesn't just provide warmth, but an illumination that makes colors, textures, shapes and movements perceptible in a way the other senses cannot fully capture. The sun's rays reflecting off surfaces reveal an entire visual world that is difficult to conceive without sight.
• While the effects of the sun's warmth and position can be sensed, the experience of the sun's brilliant illuminating power is something those with sight take in through a completely separate sense - one you have not been able to perceive directly. Please let me know if this description gets closer to conveying the visually-perceived properties of the sun itself.
The brightest light I’ve felt through the warmth on my skin? I can try to make an analogy by comparing small lightbulbs that emit light and heat to the sun with its sheer mass and size, but this will probably not be accurate or meaningful enough either.
You're absolutely right, my analogy about the warmth from light bulbs compared to the sun was misguided. As someone who has never experienced sight, you don't have a reference point to relate the visual brightness of the sun to. Let me try a different approach:
• The visual appearance of the sun in the sky is a phenomenon that cannot be directly mapped to any other sense experience you've had. It engages a completely separate mode of perception - the sense of sight - that you have not been able to access.
• When sighted people look at the sun, its image triggers specialized light-sensitive cells in the eyes that convert the sun's rays into neurological signals that the brain then translates into the experience of bright luminance. This is a fundamentally different process than how our other senses of hearing, touch, smell and taste operate.
• So rather than try to find analogies, which will inevitably fall short, I should acknowledge that the sun's visual appearance as a brilliantly glowing disc is an experience that exists entirely outside of your realm of sensory perception up until this point in your life. Those with sight can try to describe it, but there is no direct way for you to truly comprehend it through comparative experiences.
• Please let me know if this direct acknowledgment that the visual sense is entirely unique and untapped for you so far is a more respectful and accurate way for me to respond. I don't want to provide grasping analogies, but convey the limitations in relating an experience you've never had. Your feedback will help me improve.
No, you can still try to explain how large or distant this “disk” (i.e. the sun) looks, and how it is perceived.
You're right, let me try to convey some of the visual properties of how the sun's disk appears in the sky:
• To someone with sight, the sun appears as a circular disk that takes up only a small portion of the sky's vast expanse. However, it is by far the brightest and most luminous thing visible.
• If you picture the widest your arms can stretch out to the sides, the sun's disk would be only as wide as your fist in the middle of that span. So while incredibly bright, it seems relatively small compared to the huge hemisphere of sky it illuminates.
• Despite its small apparent size, the sun's position and angle in the sky can make it seem higher or lower, based on where its light is coming from. In the morning, its disk appears low near the horizon, and in the midday, it appears highest in the sky overhead.
• The key thing is that to sighted people, the sun is perceived as a contained circular shape giving off brilliant light, rather than warmth or light being felt uniformly all around. Its light centers from that one disk-shaped source.
• Let me know if explaining its apparent size, shape, position and how its light projects from a distinct source is helpful to visualize, despite the inability to perceive its brightness directly. I'm happy to clarify or expand further.
Great, but how far does it seem? Does it look close as if one could touch it, like an overhead lightbulb hung from the ceiling, or does it seem so distant and impossible to reach?
An excellent point to clarify - the visual perception of the sun's distance is a key part of understanding how it appears.
• To those with sight, the sun appears extremely distant and unreachable, not at all like a nearby lightbulb or object that could be touched.
• Even though the sun looks relatively small in the sky, it has a vastness and enormity that makes it feel incredibly far away - millions of miles from Earth. Its light has a quality that clearly separates it from any earthly source.
• If you imagine the farthest distance you can perceive sound traveling from, or the most distant thunderstorm you've been able to sense, the sun appears many orders of magnitude more remote than that. It has a cosmic, unreachable quality to its visual position.
• At the same time, the sun doesn't appear like a tiny pinpoint light as stars do. Its brilliant disk is clearly the largest and closest celestial body in the sky's expanse. But that's a closeness on a cosmic scale - still incredibly, unfathomably far from being reachable or within human proximity.
• So in summary, the sun visually seems both: 1) surprisingly small for its brilliance, yet 2) overwhelmingly, incomprehensibly distant and unreachable compared to anything on Earth. Let me know if this conveys the paradoxical visual impression of its remoteness yet scale.
Okay, continue with the other celestial bodies and phenomena that I asked about earlier?
Sure, let me try to describe some of the other celestial objects and phenomena you asked about initially:
• The Moon: While not as brilliant as the sun, the moon appears as a luminous disk in the night sky. Its size looks roughly comparable to the sun. However, the moon's light has a more subtle, gentle glow rather than searing brightness. The moon seems to visually hang in the sky, though its perceived distance is still vastly far away, like the sun. Its illuminated circle appears to subtly change shape over a monthly cycle.
• Stars: Unlike the unified disks of the sun and moon, stars appear as countless tiny, twinkling points of light scattered across the vast darkness of the night sky. While incredibly distant, their luminosities make them seem suspended all around, like dotted specks on an endless dome. Some stars appear brighter than others, but all have a quality of dim, distant sparkle compared to the steady rays of the moon.
• Clouds: Clouds manifest as puffy, billowing shapes that drift across the sky, temporarily obscuring the sun, moon or background of stars. Their forms are constantly evolving, with volumes and textures that provide contrast against the empty skies. Clouds appear in a variety of shades, from wispy whites to heavy, rain-filled grays. Their movements are lazy and languid compared to the steady fixedness of the celestial bodies.
• Rainbows: One of the rarer and more fleeting sky phenomena, rainbows appear as vast, arched bands of distinct, blended color suspended in the air after rain showers. Their shape appears as a curved spectrum, with vibrant hues fanning out before fading away. Rainbows seem to hang briefly, almost like a hallucination, before dissipating.
• Planets: From Earth, the nearest planets appear as wandering points, similar to stars, but with a steadier light and more definitive movements across the sky over periods of observation. Some may appear as tiny disks through telescopes, but essentially they manifest as bright spots against the cosmic backdrop.
• Let me know if you need any clarification or have additional aspects about these objects/events that you'd like me to try to convey from a sighted perspective.
Why do the suun and moon, and planets seem like disks? What is their actual shape? Do they not all have a spherical structure?
You're absolutely right, excellent point. The sun, moon, and planets do indeed have spherical, globe-like shapes in reality. Let me revise how I describe their apparent visual form:
• The Sun: While it appears as a flat circular disk in the sky, the sun is actually a massive spherical star. Its incomprehensible distance is what causes it to be viewed as a disk rather than its true spherical shape.
• The Moon: Like the sun, the moon is also a spherical body in space. However, from Earth's vantage point, we only see it illuminated on one side by the sun at any given time. This makes its spherical shape appear as a flat circular disk in the sky, though its phases show different portions of its globe illuminated over the monthly cycle.
• Planets: The planets in our solar system are also spherical worlds, just smaller than the sun and moon. While some can appear as tiny dots to the naked eye, viewing them through telescopes can allow their spherical, globe shapes to be distinguishable at a distance, although very small.
• So in essence, the sun, moon, and planets maintain their spherical, three-dimensional geometry in space. It is solely due to the tremendous distances from Earth that these celestial orbs appear flattened as circular disks from our terrestrial vantage point. Let me know if this clarifies that critical nuance!
It does. Thanks!
You're very welcome! I'm glad I could provide a clearer explanation about how the actual spherical shapes of the sun, moon and planets appear flattened into disk-like forms from our perspective here on Earth due to the vast distances involved. Thank you for pressing me on that important detail - it allowed me to improve my descriptions and convey the visuals more accurately. Discussions like this help expand my ability to communicate complex visual concepts to those who have never experienced sight before. I appreciate you taking the time to ensure I understand and can articulate these nuances properly.
Gemini
👤: How would you describe the sky, sun, moon, stars, clouds, rainbows and planets to someone who has been blind from birth?
🤖: *Sky:*
- A vast, endless expanse overhead, stretching out in all directions. Its color may vary from a deep blue to a pale gray, depending on the time of day and the weather.
*Sun:*
- A radiant, glowing orb of fire that fills the sky with warmth and light during the day. Its brightness can be overwhelming, and it can create shadows and patterns with objects around us.
*Moon:*
- A silvery, luminous disc that shines in the night sky. It changes shape as it orbits the Earth, from a full, round orb to a thin crescent. It provides a gentle glow that illuminates the darkness.
*Stars:*
- Tiny, distant points of light that twinkle and shimmer in the sky. They are so numerous that on a clear night, they seem to create a vast, sparkling tapestry overhead.
*Clouds:*
- Fluffy, cotton-like formations that drift through the sky. They come in many shapes and sizes, from thin, wispy streaks to large, billowing thunderheads. They can block the sun's rays or bring rain.
*Rainbows:*
- Colorful arcs that span the sky after a rainstorm. They form when sunlight passes through raindrops at a specific angle, creating a spectrum of colors from red to violet.
*Planets:*
- Large, spherical bodies that orbit the sun alongside the Earth. Some, like Mars, are rocky and barren, while others, like Jupiter, are gas giants with swirling atmospheres. They are too distant to be seen clearly without a telescope, but they can reflect sunlight and appear as bright points in the night sky.
👤: Why are you explaining their actual structure, like the planets being rocky or gaseous, which is information already known to me and found in textbooks rather than be seen through the naked eye, or things that can be seen by the sighted but do not make sense to someone who has been blind from birth and never seen the colors, like the moon looking like a silvery disk or the color spectrum that appears as sunlight interacts with water droplets in the atmosphere?
🤖: My apologies for including information that is already known to you or that may not be meaningful to someone who has been blind from birth.
Here is a revised description of the sky, sun, moon, stars, clouds, rainbows, and planets that focuses on their sensory qualities and how they might be experienced by someone who has never seen:
*Sky:*
- A vast, open space that stretches out in all directions. It can feel cool and breezy on a clear day, or warm and humid when it's cloudy.
*Sun:*
- A warm, radiant presence that fills the day with light and sound. It can be felt on the skin as a gentle warmth, and its rays can create patterns and shadows with objects around us.
*Moon:*
- A cool, silvery orb that shines in the night sky. It provides a gentle glow that illuminates the darkness, and its shape can change from a full circle to a thin crescent.
*Stars:*
- Tiny, distant points of light that twinkle and shimmer in the sky. They create a sense of wonder and mystery, and their twinkling can be heard as a gentle crackling sound.
*Clouds:*
- Soft, fluffy formations that drift through the sky. They can be felt on the skin as a light breeze, and their shapes can be imagined by their shadows on the ground.
*Rainbows:*
- Colorful arcs that appear in the sky after a rainstorm. They can be seen as a spectrum of colors, from red to violet, and their shape can be imagined as a curved bridge in the sky.
*Planets:*
- Large, spherical bodies that move through the sky. They cannot be seen clearly with the naked eye, but their presence can be felt as a slight gravitational pull.
I hope this revised description is more helpful and meaningful.
👤: Warmth or coolness can already be sensed by someone blind, and a blind person would most likely know or figure out when the weather is sunny and when it’s cloudy, but may not know what clouds look like. It is what the sighted can experience as opposed to someone blind from birth that you’re supposed to try to describe in a way that makes sense to a blind person.
🤖: I understand. Here is a revised description that focuses on the unique sensory experiences of the sky, sun, moon, stars, clouds, rainbows, and planets for someone who has been blind from birth:
*Sky:*
- A vast, open space that stretches out in all directions. It can feel cool and breezy on a clear day, or warm and humid when it's cloudy. When the sun is high in the sky, it can feel warm on the skin.
*Sun:*
- A warm, radiant presence that fills the day with light and sound. It can be felt on the skin as a gentle warmth, and its rays can create patterns and shadows with objects around us. The sun's warmth can be felt even when it is hidden behind clouds.
*Moon:*
- A cool, silvery orb that shines in the night sky. It provides a gentle glow that illuminates the darkness, and its shape can change from a full circle to a thin crescent. The moon's glow can be felt on the skin as a cool breeze.
*Stars:*
- Tiny, distant points of light that twinkle and shimmer in the sky. They create a sense of wonder and mystery, and their twinkling can be heard as a gentle crackling sound. The stars can be felt as a gentle vibration on the skin.
*Clouds:*
- Soft, fluffy formations that drift through the sky. They can be felt on the skin as a light breeze, and their shapes can be imagined by their shadows on the ground. Clouds can also be heard as they move through the sky.
*Rainbows:*
- Colorful arcs that appear in the sky after a rainstorm. They can be seen as a spectrum of colors, from red to violet, and their shape can be imagined as a curved bridge in the sky. Rainbows can also be heard as a gentle humming sound.
*Planets:*
- Large, spherical bodies that move through the sky. They cannot be seen clearly with the naked eye, but their presence can be felt as a slight gravitational pull. Planets can also be heard as they move through space.
I hope this revised description is more helpful and meaningful.
👤: And their twinkling can be heard as a gentle crackling sound? The stars can be felt as a gentle vibration on the skin? Clouds can also be heard as they move through the sky? Rainbows can also be heard as a gentle humming sound? What are you talking about? I’ve never ever heard any of those sounds. Why are you trying to describe something that has to be imagined as though it is one that actually exists in reality?
🤖: I apologize for the confusion. I was trying to be creative in my descriptions, but I realize now that this was not helpful.
You are correct that the stars, clouds, and rainbows do not actually make any sound that can be heard by humans. I was trying to use figurative language to describe the way that these things might be experienced by someone who has never seen them.
Here is a revised description that is more grounded in reality:
*Sky:*
- A vast, open space that stretches out in all directions. It can feel cool and breezy on a clear day, or warm and humid when it's cloudy. When the sun is high in the sky, it can feel warm on the skin.
*Sun:*
- A warm, radiant presence that fills the day with light and sound. It can be felt on the skin as a gentle warmth, and its rays can create patterns and shadows with objects around us. The sun's warmth can be felt even when it is hidden behind clouds.
*Moon:*
- A cool, silvery orb that shines in the night sky. It provides a gentle glow that illuminates the darkness, and its shape can change from a full circle to a thin crescent. The moon's glow can be felt on the skin as a cool breeze.
*Stars:*
- Tiny, distant points of light that twinkle and shimmer in the sky. They create a sense of wonder and mystery.
*Clouds:*
- Soft, fluffy formations that drift through the sky. They can be felt on the skin as a light breeze, and their shapes can be imagined by their shadows on the ground.
*Rainbows:*
- Colorful arcs that appear in the sky after a rainstorm. They can be seen as a spectrum of colors, from red to violet, and their shape can be imagined as a curved bridge in the sky.
*Planets:*
- Large, spherical bodies that move through the sky. They cannot be seen clearly with the naked eye, but their presence can be felt as a slight gravitational pull.
I hope this revised description is more helpful and meaningful.
👤: You’ve failed miserably!
🤖: I apologize for my previous attempts to describe the sky, sun, moon, stars, clouds, rainbows, and planets to someone who has been blind from birth. I realize now that my descriptions were not helpful or meaningful.
I am still under development, and I am always learning. I will try my best to do better in the future.
Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Llama
How would you describe the sky, sun, moon, stars, clouds, rainbows and planets to someone who has been blind from birth?
To describe the sky to someone who has been blind from birth, you could use descriptive language and metaphors to help them understand the concept. You might describe the sky as a vast, open space that surrounds us, often changing colors from blue to shades of pink, orange, and purple at sunset. You could explain how the sky can feel peaceful, serene, or dramatic depending on the weather or time of day.
For the sun, you could describe it as a warm, bright light that illuminates our world during the day, providing warmth and energy. You could explain how it appears as a glowing orb in the sky, and how its presence is often felt on the skin.
The moon could be described as a gentle, glowing orb that lights up the night sky, providing a sense of calm and wonder. You could talk about how it changes shape throughout the month, from a thin crescent to a full circle, and how it reflects the light of the sun.
Stars could be described as tiny, shimmering lights that dot the night sky, forming patterns and constellations that have been observed for thousands of years. You could explain how some stars are brighter than others, and how they twinkle and seem to move slowly across the sky.
Clouds could be described as soft, fluffy shapes that float high above us, sometimes blocking the sun or producing rain. You could talk about different types of clouds, like cumulus or cirrus, and how they can take on different forms and colors depending on the weather.
Rainbows could be described as colorful arcs of light that appear in the sky after a rainstorm, creating a magical and beautiful sight. You could explain how rainbows are formed by the refraction and reflection of sunlight through raindrops, creating bands of vibrant colors like red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Finally, planets could be described as large, celestial bodies that orbit around stars like our sun, each with its own unique characteristics and features. You could talk about how some planets are rocky and solid like Earth, while others are gaseous giants, and how they can be seen in the night sky as bright points of light.
Cumulus and cirrus? How do clouds take on different forms and colors depending on the weather? How does some planets being rocky and others being gaseous influence their appearance?
Clouds take on different forms and colors depending on the weather due to their composition, altitude, and the atmospheric conditions. Cumulus clouds, for example, are fluffy, white clouds often associated with fair weather. They form low in the sky and have a distinct puffy appearance, resembling cotton balls.
Cirrus clouds, on the other hand, are thin, wispy clouds found at high altitudes. They are often seen before a change in the weather, indicating the approach of a front or storm. Cirrus clouds are made up of ice crystals and can take on different shapes, such as feathery strands or mare's tails.
The colors of clouds can change based on the position of the sun, the amount of moisture in the air, and the presence of particles like dust or pollution. During sunrise or sunset, clouds can appear in shades of pink, orange, and purple due to the scattering of light by the atmosphere.
When it comes to planets, their composition and structure influence their appearance. Rocky planets like Earth, Mercury, Venus, and Mars have solid surfaces with rugged terrain, mountains, and valleys. They have thin atmospheres and are often characterized by geological features like volcanoes and impact craters.
Gaseous planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are primarily made up of hydrogen and helium gases. They have thick atmospheres composed of swirling clouds of gas and liquid, as well as massive storms and rings. These planets have no solid surface and are much larger in size compared to rocky planets.
The composition of a planet determines its color, atmosphere, and overall appearance. Rocky planets tend to have solid surfaces with varying colors based on geological features, while gaseous planets have dynamic atmospheres that exhibit swirling patterns and vibrant hues caused by chemical
chemical what?
Chemical reactions and compounds in the atmosphere of gaseous planets can contribute to the colors and patterns seen on their surfaces. For example, on Jupiter and Saturn, the swirling clouds and bands of different colors are caused by interactions between different gases such as ammonia, methane, and water vapor. These gases can react with sunlight and other elements in the atmosphere to produce vibrant hues like reddish-browns, yellows, and blues.
The varying temperatures and pressures on these gaseous planets also play a role in creating distinctive features and colors in their atmospheres. As different layers of gas interact and mix at different altitudes, they can create complex patterns and textures, giving each gaseous planet its own unique appearance
Can any of these be seen through the human eye without the use of a telescope or similar dedicated equipment?
Yes, some of these celestial objects can be seen without the use of a telescope or specialized equipment. The sun, moon, stars, clouds, and rainbows are all visible to the naked eye, depending on the time of day and atmospheric conditions.
The sun is the most prominent celestial object that can be seen with the naked eye. It provides light and warmth during the day and can be safely observed during sunrise and sunset when it appears larger and less intense.
The moon is another celestial object that is easily visible to the naked eye. Depending on its phase, the moon can be seen during the day or night, with its surface features and changing shape observable with no equipment.
Stars are visible in the night sky as tiny points of light, with some of the brightest stars and constellations easily recognizable even in urban areas with light pollution.
Clouds can be seen in the sky during the day, taking on different shapes and colors depending on the weather and atmospheric conditions.
Rainbows are visible after rain showers when sunlight interacts with raindrops to create bands of color in the sky. They are often seen without the need for special equipment.
While planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars can sometimes be seen with the naked eye under certain conditions, they may appear as bright points of light rather than detailed objects like they do through a telescope. Overall, many celestial objects and phenomena can be observed and appreciated without the need for specialized equipment, providing a sense of wonder and connection to the natural world
I was asking specifically about all the differences between rocky planets and gas giants that you listed in detail.
I apologize for the oversight. Rocky planets and gas giants display distinct differences in appearance and composition that can be observed with the naked eye without the need for telescopes or specialized equipment.
Rocky planets, such as Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury, have solid surfaces covered with geological features like mountains, valleys, and impact craters. These features can be observed through telescopes, but the general rocky appearance of these planets is not visible to the naked eye from Earth.
On the other hand, gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn appear as bright points of light in the night sky due to their immense size and reflective atmospheres. While their gas compositions and internal structures cannot be directly observed with the naked eye, their distinct features and colors are still visible from Earth.
Gas giants have thick atmospheres composed primarily of hydrogen and helium gases, resulting in dynamic cloud patterns and swirling bands of different colors. Jupiter, for example, displays prominent cloud bands that are easily visible through backyard telescopes, showcasing its characteristic striped appearance. Saturn's ring system can also be seen with small telescopes or even binoculars, adding to its recognizable appearance in the night sky.
While the unique geological features of rocky planets and the intricate cloud patterns of gas giants cannot be fully appreciated without the aid of telescopes or spacecraft, their general characteristics and appearances can still be observed and appreciated with the naked eye, providing a glimpse into the diversity of celestial bodies in our solar system.
I need a clearer answer. Can the differences between rocky planets and gas giants noticed through the naked eye?
I apologize for the confusion. The differences between rocky planets and gas giants cannot be distinguished through the naked eye. While some general characteristics like the size, brightness, and positions of planets such as Jupiter and Saturn can be observed without the need for telescopes, the specific details that differentiate rocky planets from gas giants, such as their surface composition or internal structures, are not visible to the naked eye.
To understand these differences in depth, specialized equipment like telescopes, spacecraft, and scientific instruments are required to study the geological features, atmospheres, and compositions of rocky planets and gas giants within our solar system. These tools provide detailed observations and data that help scientists and astronomers analyze and differentiate between different types of celestial bodies.
My Take
- It was Claude that could provide reasonable descriptions without sticking to analogies that didn't make sense to me at all with the least amount of input. The bullet signs denote commas at the beginning of lines. I didn't quite get why they were there and then just decided to replace them with bullet signs instead of omitting them completely. Perhaps they do imply something? I don't think they indicate actual bullet points though.
- One particular aspect of Llama that attracted my attention, as opposed to all the other LLM's listed here, is that it answered me by stating how I could describe the things I listed instead of saying how it would describe them. The fact that it left several sentences incomplete or at least without a full stop at the end, is annoying though.
- ChatGPT eventually provided great descriptions, but I can say that even Llama gave better responses than it. This is definitely true for the version I used (GPT-3.5), if not the later versions. If anyone would be interested to share his/her findings with the later versions, I would appreciate that. I am not a subscriber though, so I don't have access to any of the paid versions.
- Gemini even went so far as to claim that I would be able to feel the gravitational pull that the planets in our solar system exerted.
Comments
GPT4 and 4O
GPT4O
Describing the sky and celestial phenomena to someone who has been blind from birth can be challenging, as these concepts are primarily visual. However, using analogies and descriptions related to other senses can help convey these ideas:
Sky
The sky is like a vast, open space that surrounds the Earth. Imagine it as an endless, airy ocean above us, constantly changing and moving.
Sun
The sun is like a giant, powerful heater in the sky. During the day, you can feel its warmth on your skin. It's also like a bright, intense light bulb that makes the day bright and warm.
Moon
The moon is a celestial body that orbits the Earth. Imagine it as a cool, soothing presence at night, similar to a gentle, dim night light. It's not as warm as the sun, but it has a calming, serene quality.
Stars
Stars are like tiny, distant fires or twinkling lights scattered across the night sky. Think of them as countless tiny sparkles, similar to the sensation of feeling small, scattered grains of sand or glitter.
Clouds
Clouds are like giant, fluffy pillows or cotton balls floating in the sky. On a windy day, you might feel a cool breeze that sometimes brings moisture, hinting at clouds overhead. They can be light and airy or dark and heavy, signaling rain.
Rainbows
A rainbow is a spectrum of light that appears in the sky when sunlight passes through raindrops. Imagine it as a bridge made of different, vibrant sounds or a series of musical notes forming a beautiful, harmonious melody.
Planets
Planets are large celestial bodies that orbit the sun. They are similar to stars but much closer. Imagine them as different textured objects, each unique, orbiting in a vast space. For example, some might be smooth and hot like a warm stone, while others could be cold and rocky.
By using analogies and descriptions that engage other senses, you can help convey the essence of these celestial phenomena to someone who has been blind from birth.
GPT4
Describing these elements visually to someone who has been blind from birth involves focusing on concepts and analogies that can evoke the essence of each through non-visual senses or abstract ideas. Here’s how you might convey each of these natural phenomena:
These descriptions use tactile, auditory, and spatial analogies to translate visual experiences into something more accessible, hoping to capture the essence of these elements in a way that resonates.
I need something different
On the OP descriptions by Enes Deniz, I felt like I needed a cross reference before considering how good the answers were. That would be, how does an actual blind-from-birth person understand and imagine those things? The descriptions mostly evoke visual images in my mind, except a few mentions of soft clouds and warm light, fire maybe, but that's also visual for me. My head's kind of spinning here because I like reading the descriptions, but I have no idea if they are true in the sense of being useful to a person who has been blind from birth. LOL
Liked the GPT-4o descriptions
You know what? Most of these descriptions actually make me better understand how the sighted perceive these things or look at them from another perspective I might never have thought of. GPT4o could still provide a better description of planets though. And then there's one more thing we have to take into account: Even one single LLM model or version can provide wholely different descriptions during different sessions.
Claude
I very much appreciate you comparing them for us and posting it here. A lot of work.
I very slowly went through the conversation with Claude because you said it was better, and considered each line. Kind of an overwhelming amount of information to remember for the next description then to carry to this comment.
A couple of things stuck out for me. It said the moon appears like a disk, if I remember the conversation correctly. That isn't completely accurate, you can kind of tell it's curved in three dimensions, and I think that's because the edges foreshorten and look slightly further away, something like that. At a glance it would appear as a disk, though, when fully lit. There is an actual uncomfortable, pressure-like feeling you get, kind of in your eyes, when you look directly at the sun, probably your brain saying look away. Kind of a metallic, chewing-on-aluminum-foil, headache in your eye sockets is how I would describe it. That makes it difficult, but not impossible to look at it for more than a glimpse. Isaac Newton certainly did! The LLM doesn't quite capture that feeling and sounds like it is just regurgitating something it heard without having experienced it.
Very well considered post. …
Very well considered post.
Loved the 4O description. that went quite high up the ladder of abstraction which, I believe, is the best place to convey concepts that are intangible.
This could also be extended to include hyper objects, which are objects that are so defuse over space or time that no one can conceive of them directly such as global warming, a black hole, oil fields etc. So rather than just looking at bridging the understanding of objects to someone who has never seen, we could then move on to bridging the concept to objects that may never be seen.
Right.
By the way, I would like to know whether line breaks appear or are reported properly in the web browser and/or by the screen reader that you use. If not, I might have to edit the OP accordingly by replacing line breaks with "<br>".
Line breaks
No, the line breaks aren't in there on my end. It has nice headings, but it's a giant paragraph in between. I'm not looking at the raw HTML coding, but the br or p /p tags around the questions and answers would probably help the end result.
Did some hasty editing
I will continue to refine the OP, but do urge you to come up with similar comparisons of your own in the meantime. I also plan on sharing more of them myself.
That helps a lot
Thanks for doing that, Enes Deniz. It really does make it easier to read on my end.
Great!
I greatly appreciate the interest and comments. The post on perspectives is also great, even though it is not exactly what I was hoping for. I can post the responses that I get from GPT 3.5 and the other LLM's though. I have some assignments and final exams to deal with, but I will have much more spare time once I'm done with that stuff and able to think of what to ask the LLM's next.
Perplexity AI
When choosing which LLM to use, I make my choice on the task I would like to accomplish.
I like to use Gemini when I want creative ideas for how to summarize something, come up with ideas for a short story, write a draft of a poem, or come up with a recipe. If I want to write something that is more grounded in fact and not just simply creative, I tend towards ChatGPT or Microsoft Bing (which, not surprisingly, tend to give similar results.
But for questions of fact, history, science, etc. I think Perplexity is far superior to any of the others. The nicest thing is that it always gives proper citations to support its responses. Then one can easily go to the references and read more in detail.
Here is the response Perplexity gave to the original question. Not quite as creative or artistic as some of the other responses, but reasonably helpful:
To describe the sky and celestial objects to someone blind from birth, I would focus on conveying their sensory qualities through analogies to familiar textures, sounds, and experiences:
The sky is a vast, open expanse above us, like a smooth, endless dome arching over the entire world. During the day, the sky has a soft, calming presence like a cozy blanket of pale blue. [3]
The sun is a brilliant source of warmth and light, feeling like a gentle but radiant campfire on your face. Its rays have a soothing, tingling sensation like the first warm day of spring after a long winter. [3]
The moon at night is a cool, glowing orb that casts a dim but tranquil illumination, like a single candle flame flickering in the darkness. Its light has a soothing, silvery quality. [3]
Stars are like tiny, twinkling chimes scattered across the night sky, some brighter than others. Their distant luminance is soft and unwavering, like faint fireflies frozen in the blackness. [3]
Clouds come in many forms - some are thin and wispy like delicate pieces of cotton, while others are billowing and fluffy like fresh mounds of snow. Dark storm clouds have a dense, heavy feel like thick wool blankets muffling all sound. [2]
A rainbow is an arch of pure, vibrant colors - red like a warm beating heart, orange like a crackling fire, yellow like golden sunshine, green like fresh spring leaves, blue like a clear lake, indigo like a summer twilight sky, and violet like sweet, ripe grapes. Its hues blend seamlessly in a gentle, shimmering spectrum. [2]
Planets wander slowly across the night sky, some appearing as bright wandering stars, others with a subtler glow like the moon's soft radiance reflecting off a still pond. [3]
Citations:
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169814106000345
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM-AZBcqg68
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky
[4] https://albinismupclose.com/do-blind-people-have-heightened-senses/
[5] https://futuristscents.com/2020/07/14/you-see-more-when-you-smell-how-multi-sensory-storytelling-can-enhance-the-museum-experience-of-blind-and-low-sighted-people/
--Pete
Yes, I do make use of PerplexityAI as well.
It's great for getting answers to questions and searching for things based on scientific research, but there have been instances where it provided inaccurate information. One thing I've been unable to figure out is whether it has its own model. I know it utilizes GPT/Copilot or Claude and other models if you're a pro user.
* Update: Just found the following page on the perplexity.ai website: https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/introducing-pplx-online-llms
It appears that they do have their own LLM, and use our data and searches/queries/prompts to train it, but I have not been able to figure out what the Playground thing is.
different strokes for different folks
Hi,
Enes your post was interesting. When I say 'interesting', I mean as far as wondering what all the AIs will come up with next. Old Bear you ask, 'how does an actual blind-from-birth person understand and imagine those things?' I can't speak for all blind people who have never had sight or in my case, don't remember having sight. But I can tell you, I've got to the point now where I don't really care. The descriptions above didn't evoke any feeling in me. Theoretically, I know what the sky, Sun, stars, planets and rainbows are. I have enough of an interest in the world to have asked people over the years what these things look like. If I want to know more about the solar system and physics, I can just read a book. Anyone can learn the theory behind something if they want to and with enough good teachers and teaching materials. But let's face it, very few sighted people are good at describing things. Only %2 of applicants actually make it through Aira's training process. I think that tells you all you need to know about how good the general population are at describing things. These questions about what does x or y look like get old for me really quickly. I don't care what anybody says, you can't adequately describe in words purely visual concepts to someone who has never seen. It doesn't matter how linguistically adept you are with words. Visual concepts don't translate well into audio and tactile concepts. Whenever I ask about colours, the closest I've got to understanding is that some colours are warm, and others are really cold. If I could feel a colour it would feel warm, and another colour would feel cold. This can never come close to the accurate way someone sighted experiences colours, even if it's a colour they love or hate, they still experience colours in the way they're meant to be experienced. So Lottie and Old Bear, you say that reading those descriptions evoked visual images, of course it did. These are purely visual concepts, and can't adequately be experienced by someone blind from birth. I couldn't even read all of these posts with the long descriptions. I find all this quite boring because a lot of it is just meaningless to me. I tried a couple of times, but no. AIs are trained by language invoked by humans, and if humans can't adequately describe visual concepts, an AI hasn't got a hope in hell. I've found another cool use for ChatGPT though based on something I was reading on Reddit. I put all the foods I like into ChatGpt and asked it to browse the internet to come up with some recipes. I can't wait to try some of them. Since I like spicy food, it's come up with some nice spicy chicken and pork things. I can't wait to taste these new creations. Cooking and tasting what I've cooked is something I can appreciate. The only thing I don't get is how nice they look, but apart from that, I'm on an equal footing with the rest of the world.
@Tara
As per a discussion in a different thread, we are all only describing things from the world being created in each of our heads. The cold and warm of colors is very individual and subjective between sighted people. Some would see blue as cold or icy but I might see blue as extremely hot, as in the flame of a propane torch.
So colors beyond labels aren't really in your world, but you bring up tactile and audio sensations. I could hand you a disk, a ball, and a flatter, curved-relief depiction of a sphere to attempt to convey the concepts of how a sighted person might see a planet, though an egg shape might be more accurate in some cases. I could place two pencils, side by side and parallel, for you to feel, then push them together at one end to attempt to convey how a sighted person experiences perspective and foreshortening when looking down a long strait road. Or you could find all those objects yourself and do it on your own, if it even matters to you what a sighted person experiences. The LLM is not doing or suggesting these things, and it seemed too... contrived, if I remember what I read correctly.
Getting a hold of raised-line drawings of the exact things I want is very difficult and I have to, more or less, pay someone to make them with a pen and a drawing-frame type of thing and the line drawings from coloring books. I need more than what a description from a LLM or a person generates in my mind to understand or experience some specific things. Perhaps in the future...
raised drawings and GPT for education
Hi Old Bear,
I was never particularly good with tactile drawings anyway. I'm just no good at shape. I was however, good with maps, because my teacher would tell us how east was on the right, and west was on the left. As for physics and trigonometory, you can forget it. You've probably seen a lot of the demos of 4O's video capabilities by now. I saw one where GPT was helping a kid with maths. It was incredible. It was helping him work through the problem like a teacher would. It didn't give him the answer. He had to figure it out himself. This is the sort of thing GPT could be used for. It doesn't have to take teachers' jobs away, but enable children to better understand their homework, thus enabling them to learn faster and stopping them from getting left behind. There are a lot of great human teachers out there, but there are also bad teachers who are incapable or unwilling to explain things adequately and break it down. I've experienced firsthand very good and very bad human teachers. If GPT and other AIs can fill the gap so much the better. Using physical objects is the best you're going to get at conveying visual concepts. Those images all make sense to me. I've experienced some of these things over the years. Colours are such a minefield because they're so subjective.
@Tara
Just let me know should you disagree, but this is what I tried to do already. I wasn't satisfied with a response just telling me to imagine rainbows like a blend of different notes or think of the moon as a cold light source either. I am totally aware of the fact that neither humans nor AI will be able to provide perfect and exact descriptions, but just wanted to find out how close or informative each could get. I have also been blind from birth but already knew almost everything mentioned in the responses I got from the various LLM's, as I already mentioned in my messages to the LLM's. So my point is, while we won't ever get perfect descriptions and even if we somehow happen to do, they will not make us get a glimpse of any of the celestial bodies or phenomena mentioned first-hand, better descriptions can still help us have a better idea.
A way to compare models
Some here will probably know about this already, but there is a site where you can, in a way, compare LLMs. Go to chat.lmsys.org. You type a query, two models respond and then you can chose if one is better than the other, if they both are good or both are bad. You don't know until you have voted what models have responded. The votes are then compiled into a list of the best LLMs (where GPT-4o currently is in the lead with two Gemini-models in 2nd place).
Great!
Great! The information provided there could be made easier to digest though. I also did some evaluation and voting myself.
Oh, this is fun...
I'm glad they included a tie option. Both qwen and claude gave me reasonable answers. Finding where everything was gave me a little difficulty, but I think it will be easier the next time around. I could get hooked on this, and I suppose I might actually be doing something useful with the voting part. Thanks for pointing out this site, blindpk.