Use of ChatGPT to Clarify Possibility of Dialogue of Higher Quality

Implications for Yes and No campaigns on controversial issues

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Introduction

An extensive experiment with ChatGPT focused previously on the possibility of enhancing engagement with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) articulated by the United Nations (Coherence of Sustainable Development Goals through Artificial Intelligence, 2023). This included the first iteration of an experimental articulation of them by  ChatGPT in sonnet form -- as "strategic sonnets" -- to focus attention on the quality of sustainable attraction and inspiration that that poetic form has offered over centuries. This followed from a concern with the role of poetry in governance (Poetry-making and Policy-making: arranging a marriage between Beauty and the Beast, 1993; Poetic Engagement with Afghanistan, Caucasus and Iran: an unexplored strategic opportunity? 2009). It can indeed be asked why the SDGs have not been experimentally articulated in song to enhance their memorabilithy and uptake (A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006)

That interaction concluded from an aesthetic psychosocial perspective with the scoping out by ChatGPT of a possible epic poem -- given the role that such poems have played, as illustrated by the Mahabarata, the Kalevala or the Epic of Gilgamesh. The interaction also included a presentation of each SDG in haiku format by ChatGPT, given the recognized value of that format for some some key world leaders. There is a delightful irony to the fact that haiku is formulated by 17 "phonetic units" suggesting that the 17 SDGs might be explored together as 17 "memetic units" (Ensuring Strategic Resilience through Haiku Patterns, 2006).

The interaction also focused on the set of 16 logical connectives and on how opposing arguments in relation to the SDGs might be reframed from that perspective (Oppositional Logic as Comprehensible Key to Sustainable Democracy, 2018). Given the conventional reduction of that set to 14 connectives to facilitate representation of their memorable relationship in three dimensionlal mappings, ChatGPT demonstrated a degree of creativity in exploring the relationship between the logical connectives and the aesthetic appeal of the standard 14-fold format of sonnets (Variety of Rhyming Patterns in Standard 14-line Sonnets, 2021). ChatGPT proved to be unaware of the extent to which 14-fold patterns were deemed significant to organizational management and policy articulation, as is evident from the web resources on the matter (Pattern of 14-foldness as an Implicit Organizing Principle for Governance? 2021).

In the light of these discussion threads, the interaction focused finally on the insight they might offer into dialogue of a higher quality and how that might be enabled in a period of global divisiveness and an impoverishment of dialogue at the global level (Use of AI to enhance discourse analysis and mapping in the light of logical connectives, 2023). The need for dialogue of a higher order is only too evident with respect to issues such as climate change, inequality, migration, resources, and the like -- all of which feature in the SDGs. Especially evident at the time of writing is the interplay between the "Yes" and "No" campaigns regarding a First Nation Voice to Parliament in Australia. How is the the quality of dialogue assessed in relation to the degree of controversy associated with such issues? In what form might discourse of a higher order be expressed? Should people be complacent about the prevailing forms of dialogue -- seemingly not "fit for purpose"?

The following interaction with ChatGPT is a direct continuation of the earlier exchange. Some potential implications have been previously explored (Forthcoming Major Revolution in Global Dialogue, 2013). Possibilities have however been envisaged otherwise (Global Agenda for Dialogue among Civilizations, UN Resolution A/56/6, 2001; SDG Dialogues Series, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change; The Global Reset Dialogue, ODI).

The earlier exchange noted a number of statements by  authorities warning of the dangers of AI for the future of humanity. Most recently this took the form of a dramatic warning towards "mitigation extinction risks" (Kenny Stancil, The One-Sentence Warning on Artificial Intelligence, Consortium News, 2 June 2023). A contrasting view, in the face of the possible collapse of civilization from other causes, is the danger of failing to take advantage of a tool which would enable greater ability of humanity to integrate and focus the knowledge rendered inaccessible by the degree of fragmentation of society and disciplines (Brandeis Marshall, The Mediocrity of the AI Pause Open Letter, Medium, 25 April 2023). Currently planned reactions against AI may then be compared to red flag traffic legislation in response to the automobile a century ago -- otherwise to be caricatured as "throwing the baby out with the bathwater".

Curiously, with the response to AI as an exemplar of the interplay between "Yes" and "No" campaigns on a controversial issue, there is little concern with the quality of the dialogue as explored here in the light of logical connectives. Although obscure to most, ironically these are fundamental to the successful operation of ChatGPT, thereby appropriately framing its consideration as an issue of self-reference -- as with their emotional analogues.

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