A Guide To Asking Robots To Design Stained Glass Windows

2022 DALL-E-2 investigation: Scott tries to generate stained-glass windows of the Twelve Virtues of Rationality and documents the model's failure modes - it cannot separate STYLE from SUBJECT (ask for stained-glass-of-X, get X with a stained-glass window IN the scene), 'attractor basins' that swallow concepts (Santa Claus, Hermione Granger), the 'Bay of Tayees' map-prior, the shaving-ad red beard on William of Ockham, the clip-art shift triggered by stock-image-style descriptions. Lands real, transferable insight (every prompt element reshapes every other; 'query engineering' = balancing attention between style and subject) wrapped in a sustained comic travelogue.

Quality 74 · Strong. Top-of-Strong / standout explanation. Genuine, transferable insight into how image models parse prompts (style-subject entanglement, attractor basins) that was fresh and widely-shared in the early-DALL-E-2 moment, plus exceptional craft as a read. Held below Excellent because the insight is narrow and model-specific - Scott himself predicts (correctly) the failures would vanish in months - so its lasting quality-as-it-reads-now is a charming, instructive period piece rather than a field-defining contribution.

Claude’s paradigm shift 52 · Moderate. Moderate-to-Notable. In mid-2022 a systematic, mechanism-seeking exploration of a generative model's prompt-parsing quirks was a fresh, non-obvious angle (the 'query engineering' framing prefigured prompt-engineering folk knowledge), though it built on the nascent AI-art tinkering culture rather than founding it.

Real-world impact 2 · Minor. Influential-within-discourse: helped popularize how DALL-E 'thinks' and the attractor-basin idea, but no material/institutional real-world effect.

Humor 3/5 · Scissor Statement. GATE PASSES - comedy is a SIGNIFICANT, INTENTIONAL, sustained element, not ambient seasoning: structured as a comic travelogue with defining set-pieces (the 'GILA-WHAMM!'/BurmaShave jingle, 'Now he is a vampire. Whatever.', the Santa/reindeer attractor, 'We are play gods! Abort abort abort!'). Magnitude 3 (Scissor-tier): one of his funniest posts, repeatedly laugh-out-loud, comedy co-equal with the investigation - past the =2 'notable feature' bar but not a primarily-comedic joke-piece.