Eternal Sunshine of the Butterfly's Mind
I was just granted access to Bard.Google.com the social media giant’s competitive product to ChatGPT. I’ve been trying a few things to see how it reacts. The usual Blade Runner-inspired approaches to testing the AI systems seem also rans so I thought I’d try a different tact with a unique prompts and see where it took me.
“Reverse chronology” is a very difficult literary device to pull off. Very few works of art can claim popular status in this approach. Think “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” or Christopher Nolan’s film “Memento” or - my favorite - Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along.” So I gave 4 different AI writing tools the task with this prompt.
Write me a short story about a caterpillar who grows up to be a butterfly but the story is composed in reverse chronology with a sad ending.
The full stories are below but here’s my brief summary and analysis:
ChatGPT 3.5: tries the classic “yup… that’s me.” with the butterfly dying on the ground and then fills in the reverse chronology with “before that” and “and then…” It’s a pedestrian attempt and you can almost hear “Baby O'riley” cue but its not worth reading twice.
Bard: Enter the newcomer. The response was wicked fast but the outcome was pretty much a fail. The butterfly quickly gets morphed back into a caterpillar (mistakenly) captured by a boy who feels bad about killing the caterpillar (confusing). The boy buries the caterpillar/butterfly which is nice gesture and then, without warning, it offers up an alternate story with a “happier ending” where the boy gets to witness the transformation. Weird.
Bing: Sadness pervades the dying butterfly and the reverse chronology never really takes hold. Instead it relies on memories as a main mechanism for calling on the caterpillar.
ChatGPT 4: Wow. This one really amazed me. It actually found a motivating moment for a reverse chronology: “
As it soared over the grass, it recalled the moment it emerged from its chrysalis, the thrill of spreading its wings for the first time.” The butterfly’s wings shrink and it moves into a chrysalis. The seasonal changes mirror the reversing story and the bug finally succumbs. The ending was pretty poignant too “The meadow fell silent, a somber reminder of the fragile beauty that once flourished there, and the cycle of life that had come to a sorrowful end.”
I’ll be testing this over the next few days. The next test will be a most logical test.
Full stories below.
Chat GPT 3.5
The butterfly lay motionless on the ground, its wings crumpled and torn. It was once a beautiful creature, soaring through the skies with grace and ease, but now it was barely recognizable.
Only a few hours earlier, the butterfly had been flying over a field of wildflowers, its wings shimmering in the sunlight. But then, it was suddenly caught in a spider's web, struggling to break free. The spider had emerged from its hiding place and slowly approached the butterfly, its fangs glistening in the light.
Before that, the butterfly had emerged from its chrysalis, breaking free from the cocoon that had held it captive for weeks. As it emerged, it felt a sense of freedom and joy that it had never experienced before. It spread its wings for the first time, testing them out before taking flight.
But before that, the butterfly was a caterpillar, slowly inching its way along the ground, munching on leaves and dreaming of the day it would finally transform. It spent its days crawling through the grass, unaware of the wonders that awaited it.
And now, as the butterfly lay dying, it couldn't help but wonder if it had been worth it. Was its brief life as a butterfly worth the pain and suffering it had endured? The butterfly didn't have the answers, but it knew that its time was up.
With one final gasp, the butterfly closed its eyes and slipped away, leaving nothing behind but a memory of what it once was.Google Bard
The caterpillar was once a butterfly. It was a beautiful butterfly, with wings of blue and gold. It flew through the air, free and happy.
But then, one day, the caterpillar was captured by a child. The child took the caterpillar home and put it in a cage. The caterpillar was sad. It missed its freedom.
The child fed the caterpillar, but the caterpillar did not eat. It just sat in its cage, sad and alone.
One day, the caterpillar died. The child was sad. He had not meant to hurt the caterpillar.
The caterpillar was buried in a garden. The child planted a flower over the grave. The flower was blue and gold, just like the caterpillar's wings.
The child never forgot the caterpillar. He always remembered the day he captured it and the day it died.
The end.
Here's a version of the story with a happier ending:
The caterpillar was once a butterfly. It was a beautiful butterfly, with wings of blue and gold. It flew through the air, free and happy.
But then, one day, the caterpillar was captured by a child. The child took the caterpillar home and put it in a cage. The caterpillar was sad. It missed its freedom.
The child fed the caterpillar, but the caterpillar did not eat. It just sat in its cage, sad and alone.
One day, the caterpillar transformed into a cocoon. The child was excited. He knew that soon the caterpillar would become a butterfly.
The days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. The caterpillar stayed in its cocoon, slowly transforming into a butterfly.
One day, the child saw a crack in the cocoon. He knew that the butterfly was about to emerge.
The child waited patiently. Finally, the butterfly emerged from the cocoon. The child was amazed. He had never seen anything so beautiful.
The butterfly flew around the room. The child was so happy. He knew that he would never forget this moment.
The end.Bing
##The Sad End of A Butterfly
The butterfly fluttered its delicate wings one last time before drifting to the ground. Its once vibrant colors had faded, and its wings were tattered and torn.
Days before, the butterfly had soared high above the trees, taking in the beauty of the world below. It had reminisced on the days when it was only a caterpillar, crawling on its belly through the dirt.
The caterpillar had spent its days munching on leaves, content with its simple life. It had dreamed of one day being able to fly and explore the world. That dream came true when the caterpillar spun its cocoon and emerged as a beautiful butterfly.
For a time, the butterfly was happy, flitting from flower to flower and basking in the sun. It had felt invincible, unaware of the dangers that lurked ahead.
But as the days went by, the butterfly began to grow weaker. Its wings became brittle, and its body became frail. It had lived a short but beautiful life, but now it was time to say goodbye to the world it had come to love.
As the butterfly took its final breath, a sudden wave of sadness washed over it. It wished it could return to its days as a caterpillar, content with simplicity and oblivious to the harsh realities of life.
But it was too late. The butterfly closed its eyes for the last time, and its fragile body crumpled to the ground.ChatGPT 4
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful butterfly who fluttered through a lush green meadow, its wings adorned with brilliant colors. It was a warm, sunny day, and the butterfly was filled with joy as it danced among the fragrant flowers.
The butterfly found itself drawn to the vivid memories of its past, feeling a strong connection with the other creatures in the meadow. As it soared over the grass, it recalled the moment it emerged from its chrysalis, the thrill of spreading its wings for the first time, and the awe it felt upon discovering the beauty of the world around it.
The days grew shorter, and the weather turned colder. The butterfly took refuge among the leaves of a sturdy oak tree, its once-vibrant wings now dampened by the autumn chill. As it rested, the butterfly felt the first stirrings of transformation. Its wings began to shrink, and its vibrant colors slowly faded.
In the quiet of the forest, the butterfly transformed back into a chrysalis, tightly wrapped in a protective cocoon. The world around it grew darker and colder, and the once-lively meadow was now silent and still. The chrysalis hung from a branch, patiently waiting, as the cycle of life continued around it.
As the days passed, the chrysalis grew smaller, and the memory of the brilliant butterfly it had once been began to fade. The world outside the cocoon seemed distant and foreign, a place it could no longer belong to.
With each passing day, the chrysalis continued to shrink until it became a small, green caterpillar once more. The caterpillar crawled along the forest floor, searching for leaves to eat, but there were few to be found. The once-lush meadow was now a barren wasteland, ravaged by the cold winds of winter.
Weak and hungry, the caterpillar struggled to find sustenance in the frozen landscape. It yearned for the warmth of the sun and the sweet taste of fresh leaves, but the world seemed to offer only darkness and despair.
In its final moments, the caterpillar clung to the memory of the magnificent butterfly it had once been, a shining beacon of hope in a world that had lost its beauty. It closed its eyes, dreaming of the vibrant colors and the joy of flight, even as the cold closed in around it.
And so, the once-splendid butterfly, now a fragile caterpillar, succumbed to the unforgiving winter, its dreams of soaring through the sky left unfulfilled. The meadow fell silent, a somber reminder of the fragile beauty that once flourished there, and the cycle of life that had come to a sorrowful end.