Dear Percy-L Community: This post is a follow-up to the question posed last week of "Is Walker Percy a Southern Writer?”. In particular, that post addressed the quality of one response provided by artificial intelligence as given by the recently-released web-based AI tool ChatGPT. To clarify and expand by adding a Percy quote, below are (1) what Percy said of himself in an interview from 1989 in response to the question at hand, and (2) the output of the ChatGPT AI system in response. Questions for member response: --Any comments about the AI-generated results, or the question in general? --Would artificial intelligence be a topic Percy would address in his writings--novels or otherwise--if he were alive today? (I think of LiR's lapsometer, or TS’s heavy sodium.) (Obviously, there is no right or wrong answer to these questions.) Regards, Henry Mills PS-Thanks, Tom, for your response last week. Without our straying too far from the question of whether Percy is a "Southern writer" as answered by him or by AI, I wonder if you could give explanation about why you state that “ChatGPT [artificial intelligence] is proof positive of what Walker Percy was trying to get at all along?”.*** --------------- PERCY’S VS. AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESPONSE (1) Percy interview response*: --Percy said in one interview about whether he considers himself a “Southern writer” the year before he died with:
(2) Artificial Intelligence response**: --Submitted Query to ChatGPT: "Give examples of why Walker Percy is a Southern writer and reasons why he is not. Which of his novels demonstrate he is a Southern writer?” --Results from ChatGPT (Verbatim): "Reasons why Walker Percy is considered a Southern writer:
Reasons why some may argue that Walker Percy is not a Southern writer:
Examples of Walker Percy's novels that demonstrate his Southern identity include:
Overall, while there may be arguments against labeling Percy as solely a Southern writer, the majority of literary critics and scholars consider him to be one of the most important Southern writers of the 20th century." ------------ SOURCES: *"Walker Percy and Southern Literature,” online essay, Veronica Makowsky (2016) https://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/essays/makowsky.html Makowsky adds, "Percy frequently attempted to evade the danger of being labeled a 'Southern writer' by stressing the more existentialist aspects of his work, but his fiction nonetheless remains very much a part of the Southern literary heritage….” **ChatGPT https://chat.openai.com/chat Query: "Give examples of why Walker Percy is a Southern writer and reasons why he is not. Which of his novels demonstrate he is a Southern writer?” ***Percy-L post, Tom Gollier (Feb. 4): “Re: [percy-l] Is Walker Percy a Southern writer? (according to artificial intelligence ChatGPT)"
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