Disclaimer: Looking for long prompts to get AI to apply critical thinking process and analyze claims you find on the web or people share with you? You’re in the right place. Be sure to read all the way through. I share two megaprompts, featuring FLOATER and The Orwell Test. Drop the prompt portion into your favorite AI and watch it work. I didn’t come up with FLOATER or The Orwell Test but the sources are all cited in the prompt and below. Have fun!

Every day, people encounter silly stuff, incredible claims about life that are dubious, if not unbelievable. When claims and strongly held beliefs come together mixed with stories in texts held sacred, it can be frightening to think, “Yeah, people believe this.”

Image generated from prompt using Nightcafe Studio Prompt: Create an image that shows a devastated world with a creature rising above it all. smoke and fire bubble beneath the pavement surface, buildings lie in ruins, planes on fire.

 Ok, not too imaginative a prompt, but I had to tone it down since MS CoPilot Image creator rejected the first draft of my prompt! 🙂

Tales of Apocalypse

One of my favorite fiction stories is the work of Tim LeHaye with Jerry B. Jenkins, the infamous Left Behind books. Growing up in the 80s, I ran into these quite a bit, as well as Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth. 

These stories of Armageddon rank right up there (for those of us with religious upbringing) with The Walking Dead, and other tales of world-ending destruction. As someone raised Catholic with a sprinkle of First Baptist, I have always found such supernatural/preternatural stories exciting and engaging. One gets a healthy dose of fantasy and doom with religion, and that’s probably where my love of sci-fi and fantasy began.

The Heroes Left Behind

Who wouldn’t want to hear a story that calls upon those left behind, those remaining alive, to step up and seize their destiny, to overcome in the face of adversity, boasting magical powers that bolster their spirit and empower them to endure in the face of evil forces? Heck, that’s a summary for many of these texts.

One of my least favorite, albeit eye-opening stories? Reading a story where political and religious fanatics sought to bring about Armageddon to prompt the Second Coming. The older I’ve gotten, the more types of tales like this that I see and recognize as a big temptation for religious fringe groups.

The Age of Apocalypse is Ever Present

Tales of apocalypse are so engaging. Consider this piece from National Public Radio (NPR):

As far back as 2800 B.C., the Assyrians warned that the end of the world was near. Mayans predicted the apocalypse for 2012…

“Our Earth is degenerate in these later days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end, bribery and corruption are common, children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is evidently approaching.” Ripped from the headlines? Well, only if they were published in cuneiform. The warning was inscribed on a clay tablet (see picture to the right) in ancient Assyria almost 5,000 years ago. Prophets have predicted that the end is nigh ever since, many with an exact date for their doomsday scenario. Read or listen to the rest.

Count on a book or movie about an upcoming apocalypse any moment now. Or, just check listen to this preacher from Arkansas. Insanus homo is a flower that blooms in any garden, right?

Insanus Homo flower, as conceived by MS CoPilot Image Creator

An Example

That’s why, when this came across my screen in the wee hours of the morning, that I laughed my head off.

This is based on recent news stories reporting this. See them (but you won’t be able to unsee them, so be careful!)

As I read this, I realized how serious this was. Just as some might ascribe the “spirit of the AntiChrist” to past presidents, it’s not unusual that someone as popular as Taylor Swift would capture the imagination of televangelists and congregations waiting for the ultimate vindication of their beliefs in the midst of turmoil and chaos, the Rapture, the time of tribulation, and, the arrival of the Antichrist, documented in the fiction of Tim LeHaye and others. 

In the end, all you got is who believes in you, and an eagerness to
walk through the fires of Gehenna to achieve heavenly glory. Of course, this particular claim is flawed in so many ways. How?

Well, there’s no evidence that Travis Kelce is of demonic origin (wait, is that implied in the claim?), as his all too human behavior showed recently, resulting in his apology. Evil folks seldom apologize, if at all. It’s a rule, isn’t it?

It’s Bonkers, Make No Mistake

Simply put, this is a bonkers claim that makes everyone look bad, and what a shame that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are dragged into these claims. 

I should probably also state that while I’m not a die-hard fan of Taylor Swift’s music (I do like some of her older songs, and I did like her spin on Romeo and Juliet, quite clever), I hope she DOES mobilize her Swifties to vote their conscience (that’s the American spirit…to vote in fair elections for the candidate of their choice). 

As to football great, Kelce, I admire his passion on the field, less so on the sidelines, but who hasn’t lost their temper and gotten frustrated at not being able to make things happen?

Wait, What IS AI’s Role?

Now, I hope I haven’t lost you, yet. But AI and critical thinking can play a part in this, right? Now, I’ve written about applying critical thinking acronyms and processes like CRITIC, the Orwell Test, and Melanie Trecek-King’s FLOATER. What happens if one applies one of those (FLOATER) to this claim?

Now, since this is a “supernatural” or “preternatural” (well, it’s a devilish source, right?), the falsifiability of this claim is in doubt from the start. That is:

Falsifiability is the capacity for some proposition, statement, theory or hypothesis to be proven wrong. The concept of falsifiability was introduced in 1935 by Austrian philosopher and scientist Karl Popper (1902-1994).

A scientific hypothesis, according to the doctrine of falsifiability, is credible only if it is inherently falsifiable. This means that the hypothesis must be capable of being tested and proven wrong. It does not automatically mean that the hypothesis is invalid or incorrect, only that the potential exists for the hypothesis to be refuted at some possible time or place.(source)

As you might imagine, this particular claim about a preternatural force (“The Adversary”) is NOT falsifiable because it can’t be tested. What’s more, only the televangelist has inside knowledge or insight into what’s happening. So, people choose to believe the televangelist because they:

• Trust the source. Your pastor should be somebody you can trust, even though both Catholic and Protestant people of the Book have a problem keeping their hands off other people.

• Accept reasons offered without critical analysis. Again, the idea you should believe certain people because they are trustworthy as a byproduct of the work they do is problematic in these times (e.g. police covering up their own crimes, teachers abusing their trust). One study found that poor critical thinking performance was predicted by higher levels of “extrinsic religious orientation.”

• Feel relief or better because of certain beliefs or claims. As you can imagine, it gives someone tremendous power to be able to predict what the forces of an evil host are doing, and have some counter to that which provides relief or deliverance.

Want more insight into five psychological challenges to avoid? Check out Beth Daly’s article, Science Denial and Why It Happens. Of course, this is less science denial and more…something else.

So, it’s clear that the televangelist is getting a free ride because of who s/he is and their position of power in the congregation. The question I thought might be fun to explore is this:

What happens when you apply Professor Melanie Trecek-King’s FLOATER from Thinking Is Power (an excellent website for teaching critical thinking) to this claim?

Applying FLOATER to This Claim

It’s pretty easy to apply FLOATER to THIS claim. Claim-busting processes like FLOATER aren’t designed to test supernatural claims because they are not falsifiable. But, hey, why not run this claim through an AI-powered FLOATER analysis?

Here’s the result (you can get the long prompt or megaprompt here for FLOATER so you can apply it to more scientific, er, testable questions or claims…like whether red light lowers inflammation, which came up on television. I will keep you in suspense as to whether it does or not):

Applying the FLOATER Model to the Claim in the Image

Falsifiability

The claim in the image is not easily falsifiable as it involves supernatural and speculative elements that are not testable by empirical means.

Logic

The claim lacks logical consistency as it is based on a series of assumptions that are not grounded in empirical evidence or rational argumentation.

Objectivity

The claim does not appear to be objective. It is likely influenced by personal beliefs or sensationalism rather than factual evidence.

Alternative Explanations

The claim does not consider alternative, more plausible explanations for any observed phenomena, such as metaphorical interpretations or the use of hyperbole for effect.

Tentative Conclusions

The claim is presented in a manner that suggests certainty without providing evidence, which is contrary to the principle of maintaining tentative conclusions pending evidence.

Evidence

There is no evidence provided within the image that supports the extraordinary claim, which requires extraordinary evidence.

Replicability

The claim involves scenarios that are not replicable or testable, such as the involvement of supernatural entities and apocalyptic prophecies. In summary, the claim presented in the image does not adhere to the principles of the FLOATER model. It lacks falsifiability, logical consistency, objectivity, consideration of alternative explanations, tentative conclusions, evidence, and replicability. 

Sources 

[1] image.jpg https://pplx-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/v1707998958/user_uploads/ymxznnuyh/image.jpg  

[2] image.jpg https://pplx-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/v1707465905/user_uploads/texzmzies/image.jpg

What About the Orwell Test?

That (FLOATER) was inconclusive from the get-go since this is a supernatural kinda thing, but there’s no evidence. What if we applied The Orwell Test (get long prompt for this) to this claim about someone being the mother of the Antichrist?

Here’s the application of The Orwell Test to this televangelist’s claim…note the superscript numbers that provide additional sources of information about the source. I did not include those, Perplexity.ai pulled them in using its CoPilot connection.

To apply The Orwell Test to the claim that “A televangelist from Arkansas claims Satan is engineering Taylor Swift’s marriage to Travis Kelce so she can give birth to the antichrist and launch the apocalyptic thousand-year war against Christ,” we need to examine the three key questions:

1. Facts: The claim involves supernatural and apocalyptic elements that cannot be verified through established methods of validation. There is no scientific, legal, or logical standard of proof that can confirm the involvement of a spiritual entity like Satan in personal affairs or future events such as the birth of an antichrist or an apocalyptic war. Therefore, the claim does not rely on verifiable facts.
2. Source: The source of the claim is a televangelist from Arkansas, as reported by various social media posts and websites

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   . Televangelists are not typically recognized as reliable sources for factual reporting, especially when it comes to unverifiable supernatural claims. Without further information on this particular televangelist’s track record, it is difficult to assess the reliability based solely on the search results.

3. Method: The claim employs a narrative that is common in apocalyptic and eschatological discourse, which is often based on personal belief systems rather than professional and accepted techniques of factual reporting. It also appears to be designed to provoke fear and sensationalism, which are tactics not associated with credible journalism.

Based on The Orwell Test, the claim does not rely on verifiable facts, comes from a questionable source, and employs methods that are not in line with professional reporting standards. Therefore, there is strong reason to be highly suspicious of the information provided in this claim.

Fascinating stuff, no?  Don’t click the link….

“The perpetual battle between truth and deception.”

[womp womp] 😉