A question is written down, the paper folded to conceal it from the next player, who writes an answer. The paper is unfolded to reveal the results. Remarkable facts emerge. – Surrealist Games, Redstone Press, 1991.
In a 21st Century update of this game, I asked ChatGPT to provide me with the answers. I first used the prompt “Please provide me with 12 answers. The answers must be no more than 12 words long. Do not tell me the questions. The questions must all be unrelated.” but the 12 answers it provided were too factual, like ‘Saturn has the most visible rings in our solar system,’ so I refined my terms. Next prompt: ‘ The questions must all start with will, what, are, if, is, how or should. The answers must be philosophical in nature.‘ It started providing me with questions and the answers! ‘Please don’t tell me the questions.’ Finally it got where I was coming from and the game commenced.
I considered getting ChatGPT to play this game with Grok, but then realised that all of Grok’s answers would be to do with Hitler and supposed white genocide. Have you seen that Grok has avatars now? And they’re like those Manga girls or anthropomorphic badgers? How did we let these dorks get so much power? Bring jocks back into the mainstream. They were boring but they were right all along.
Can a puffin whistle?
Meaning is what we choose to give it.
Will we all survive?
Happiness is fleeting; fulfilment may be deeper.
What will be left of us?
Freedom exists within the limits we accept.
What is an egg?
Truth without compassion can become cruelty.
Are giants real?
Connection, purpose and integrity often define it.
If I had an extra soul, would I share it with an anteater?
Reality may be filtered through perception and belief.
Is reality objective?
Impermanence gives moments their beauty and urgency.
How come there are so many breeds of dog?
Peace begins with each individual mind.
Is war coming to Europe?
Potential for both exists in everyone.
Is an un-stringed puppet merely a doll?
Some suffering teaches wisdom and compassion.
Should siblings marry?
Morality without action is just decoration.
What defines a pumpkin?
Certainty is comforting, but rarely truthful.
17/7/25 14.30pm.
James JW Robinson 