Ask HN: Why can't I find an article on the propaganda of “Soviet” Inventions?
4 comments
GPT type systems are well known for hallucinating reasonable sounding but factually incorrect data.
You need to do your due diligence, for example, the first computer mouse by all rights wasn't invented until the 60s, whereas Vladimir Shukhov died in 1939.
You need to do your due diligence, for example, the first computer mouse by all rights wasn't invented until the 60s, whereas Vladimir Shukhov died in 1939.
It's not exactly propaganda, for instance both Popov and Marconi invented radio independently the same year. I guess nobody had radios to tell them about each others work faster.
Technically Popov published his work a few months before Marconi. Popov published in December 1895, while Marconi filed for a patent in June 1896.
Technically Popov published his work a few months before Marconi. Popov published in December 1895, while Marconi filed for a patent in June 1896.
{{citation needed}}
This is quite shoddy and misleading work, but it does confirm your priors. For one specific example, while Sakharov is called "the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb", I can't possibly believe the Soviets taught that they invented the atomic bomb before the Americans (who used it as an ally of the Soviets in WWII).
This is quite shoddy and misleading work, but it does confirm your priors. For one specific example, while Sakharov is called "the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb", I can't possibly believe the Soviets taught that they invented the atomic bomb before the Americans (who used it as an ally of the Soviets in WWII).
Not an expert, but now you have a list of 20 names. You can search all 20 together or a subset and see what turns up.
My question for the community here -- Is this summarizing an existing article, or actually pulling together 10 or 20 different sources to churn this out? How can I figure this out, and how can I know for sure that this sort of article doesn't already exist out there (at least in the corpora used to train GPT-3)?
================= PROMPT:
Write a short blog post listing out some inventions of the 20th century that the Soviets laid claim to, but at odds with what the rest of the world thinks. Include 10 specific examples along with both inventors. Include the telephone, radio, computer mouse, and television. At the end, provide an enumerated, brief ascii style table, with one row per specific example, and three columns. One column for the invention, the actual inventor, and the soviet perspective on the inventor.
ChatGPT's pretty amazing response RESPONSE:
The 20th century was a time of great technological advancements and the Soviet Union was no exception. The Soviet Union claimed to have invented many things that the rest of the world believes were invented by others. Here are 10 specific examples:
1. The telephone - Alexander Graham Bell is widely considered to be the inventor of the telephone, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Alexander Popov.
2. The radio - Guglielmo Marconi is credited with inventing the radio, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Alexander Popov.
3. The computer mouse - Douglas Engelbart is credited with inventing the computer mouse, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Vladimir Shukhov.
4. The television - Philo Farnsworth is credited with inventing the television, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Vladimir Zworykin.
5. The jet engine - Frank Whittle is credited with inventing the jet engine, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Andrey Tupolev.
6. The helicopter - Igor Sikorsky is credited with inventing the helicopter, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Nikolai Kamov.
7. The rocket - Robert Goddard is credited with inventing the rocket, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
8. The tank - H.G. Wells is credited with inventing the tank, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Fyodor Petrov.
9. The submarine - John Holland is credited with inventing the submarine, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Alexander Bubnov.
10. The atomic bomb - Robert Oppenheimer is credited with inventing the atomic bomb, but the Soviet Union claimed that it was invented by Andrei Sakharov.
Invention Actual Inventor Soviet Perspective on Inventor Telephone Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Popov Radio Guglielmo Marconi Alexander Popov Computer Mouse Douglas Engelbart Vladimir Shukhov Television Philo Farnsworth Vladimir Zworykin Jet Engine Frank Whittle Andrey Tupolev Helicopter Igor Sikorsky Nikolai Kamov Rocket Robert Goddard Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Tank H.G. Wells Fyodor Petrov Submarine John Holland Alexander Bubnov Atomic Bomb Robert Oppenheimer Andrei Sakharov