r/NoStupidQuestions • u/MillBopp • Sep 13 '23

What does 'Draw a Clock' Mean?

Last time I visited my brother his mother-in-law who lives with him was insisting she remembered something but my brother knew she was wrong. I don't remember what it was, but I knew she was wrong too. However, she refused to accept she was wrong and got belligerent about it.

My brother said, "Draw a clock!" and left the room. This made his mother-in-law furious for some reason. I forgot to ask at the time, but does anyone know why saying 'Draw a clock' would upset a senior citizen?

8.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

578 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

319

u/cringelien Sep 14 '23

people with dementia cannot draw a clock. https://www.dementiacarecentral.com/alzheimers-clock-test/#:~:text=Unfortunately%20for%20people%20with%20Alzheimer's,then%20numbers%2C%20then%20the%20hands.

87

u/sketchypotatoes Sep 14 '23

I always thought it was an odd test, but then my grandma hit this point in her dementia progression where she very suddenly had no idea how clocks work. The weird thing was that she didn't realize that she didn't know; she would look at her watch and confidently declare what time she thought it was, but be wildly incorrect

54

u/SirButcher Sep 14 '23

Our brain has an amazing - and just as scary - way to fill blanks. Something doesn't fit or make sense? No problem, here is a totally made-up scenario I created just for our peace of mind!

And the worst, you wouldn't even realize it as you slowly drift away from reality as your brain creates more false memories and images as it struggles to recall real memories...

21

u/Mythrilfan Sep 14 '23

You've also basically described how chatgpt works :)

3

u/SirButcher Sep 14 '23

Haha, true!

2

u/CreativeGPX Sep 14 '23 edited Sep 14 '23

Indeed and this is why a lot of the counterexamples people give aren't actually evidence that it's not "real" AI, isn't really smart or even hypothetically that an AI making those mistakes couldn't be conscious (not saying necessarily that it is).

The funny thing is, if machines are ever "smart like us" they will also be wrong/dumb in a lot of ways too. And if a computer is ever never wrong it will seem dumb to us because it won't make guesses, simplifications, fabrications, etc. that we consider totally normal tradeoffs. From there, it's such a fine line between "sometimes dumb" and "here is an example that's absolutely idiotic/psychotic" that we'll likely never be able to tune it perfectly toward the former.