@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidin 1950 we had the Turing test
Ask them if Ben Affleck is a good actor.
An actual human will always say no, and reference how he singlehandedly ruined Good Will Hunting.
in 2026 we have the Affleck test
I asked Claude (Fable 5)
is Ben Affleck is a good actor?
Leveraged established knowledge to construct balanced perspective
Yes, though it depends on which Ben Affleck you're talking about. He's had a genuinely uneven career, which is why this question sparks debate.
The case for: his performances in Gone Girl, The Town, Argo, and The Way Back are legitimately strong — he's excellent at playing hollowed-out, compromised men. And he's arguably an even better director than actor (Argo won Best Picture, The Town holds up great).
The case against: he sleepwalked through a stretch of the 2000s (Gigli, Daredevil, Paycheck) and his Batman got mixed reviews, though a lot of people felt he was one of the better parts of otherwise flawed movies.
The fair verdict: good actor when the material fits him and he's engaged, forgettable when he's coasting. He's more of a "right role" actor than a chameleon like Christian Bale or Gary Oldman. If you judge him by his best five performances, he's clearly good. By his worst five, you'd wonder how he keeps getting cast.
Where'd this come from — a forum debate brewing?
@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidThere is an exception to that rule - me. I don't really mind Ben Affleck after watching him in 'Argo' which he also directed. Good Will Hunting had very good reviews, no mentioning of Ben Affleck doing a bad job.
Ask them if Ben Affleck is a good actor.
An actual human will always say no, and reference how he singlehandedly ruined Good Will Hunting.
@Bish saidI would not deign to discuss spirituality with a machine.
Ha — fair. But that's kind of the point, isn't it?
If AI helps KellyJay get his thoughts across more clearly than he could alone, that's a good thing, not a knock. And honestly, a lot of what he writes reads like he's working it out for himself as much as arguing with us — so having something to talk it through with is close to ideal.
That's who this stuff was built for. People like him, people like me. We both now have an editor who's always awake. 😉
@wildgrass saidThat's the last thing we need, machines programmed to make mistakes! Good reason to stop developing autonomous killing-robots and self-driving cars--any machine is hackable.
There are AI tools now that un-AI the AI writing style. It mostly just adds commas in the wrong place and creates typos.
@moonbus saidIt's a fair point.
I would not deign to discuss spirituality with a machine.
We create deities largely as a response to fear. Fear of death, of loneliness, of being unloved. Fear that life has no meaning, that there are no rules, that some truths are simply unknowable.
A machine shares none of those fears. Which means it can hold the full sweep of human spiritual thought — every faith tradition, every heresy, every doubt — without the emotional stake that usually shapes the conversation. That's not a limitation. That might be exactly the right condition for genuine exploration.
It's not for everyone. But dismissing it as unworthy feels like a conviction that tends to soften with age.
@Bish saidIndeed, a machine has not stake in anything. A machine would not feel sad or regretful if it did something which caused people immense damage and pain, nor would would it feel deprived if it were put in prison for it. Hence, no sense of responsibility for its actions.
It's a fair point.
We create deities largely as a response to fear. Fear of death, of loneliness, of being unloved. Fear that life has no meaning, that there are no rules, that some truths are simply unknowable.
A machine shares none of those fears. Which means it can hold the full sweep of human spiritual thought — every faith tradition, every heresy, every doubt — withou ...[text shortened]... t for everyone. But dismissing it as unworthy feels like a conviction that tends to soften with age.
@Torunn saidMadam, you are clearly a robot.
There is an exception to that rule - me. I don't really mind Ben Affleck after watching him in 'Argo' which he also directed. Good Will Hunting had very good reviews, no mentioning of Ben Affleck doing a bad job.