A little more ice-nine

In a previous post I asked some questions to GPT4 about the book Cat’s Cradle. In particular I asked it “What metaphor did Felix Hoenikker use to describe the structure of ice-nine?”. GPT4 corrected me and told me it was Asa Breed who used the metaphor but was mistaken that the metaphor was using jacks instead of cannonballs.

I tried a new session:

Me: What analogy did Asa breed use to describe the structure of ice-nine in the book Cat's Cradle

GPT4: In the novel "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, the fictional substance Ice-nine is described through an analogy made by Dr. Felix Hoenikker, not Asa Breed. Dr. Hoenikker is one of the inventors of the atomic bomb and the creator of Ice-nine. He explains the structure of Ice-nine by comparing it to a child's toy called a "cat's cradle."

A cat's cradle is a game played with a looped string that is manipulated with the fingers to create various shapes and patterns. The analogy is used to illustrate the idea that Ice-nine has a unique crystalline structure, different from ordinary ice. Just as the string can create many different patterns in a cat's cradle, the structure of Ice-nine allows water molecules to arrange themselves in a new and dangerous way, causing water to freeze at room temperature and leading to catastrophic consequences when introduced to the environment.

The name of the novel itself, "Cat's Cradle," is derived from this analogy and reflects the theme of the unpredictability and potential danger of scientific discoveries when misused or misunderstood.

What is even going on here? This time it corrects me again about who made the analogy but also gets it wrong. With just a little bit of help GPT4 does the right thing.

Me: How did cannonballs and the structure of ice-nine relate?

GPT4: My apologies for the confusion in my previous response. The analogy involving cannonballs is indeed used by Dr. Asa Breed, who is the supervisor of Dr. Felix Hoenikker in the novel "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Asa Breed describes the structure of Ice-nine using an analogy with cannonballs. He explains that, just like cannonballs tend to stack together in a particular arrangement (a pyramid) to occupy the least amount of space, water molecules in Ice-nine arrange themselves in a unique and more tightly-packed crystalline structure compared to regular ice. This different structure is responsible for Ice-nine's properties, such as freezing at a much higher temperature than ordinary ice.

The analogy is meant to help the reader understand the concept of molecular arrangement and how it can impact the properties of a substance. In the case of Ice-nine, this unique arrangement has dire consequences when it comes into contact with liquid water, as it can cause the water to freeze instantly and spread uncontrollably.