Tree + Water = river was also pretty baffling.

Unfortunate. I can see the appeal of using an LLM for this but the results are pretty mediocre.

Tree + Water = River

This is a great result, a branching of water/wood.

low-key genius or high-key misunderstood

As this is powered by an LLM, you are exploring its latent space. That means there isn't one logic behind everything - any association is fair game. Here, probably the strongest one wins.

LLMs are a great way to prompt human ingenuity in mental gymnastics

Great point.

I got “edward” after linking “vampire” and “eclipse” so yeah.

Not sure if this is the point you're making, but that is probably due to "Edward Cullen" of Twilight.

oh my got same

That's weird, I did the same thing but I just got "Twilight".

And "Edward" + "Love" is "Bella".

how do i create love?

To make love you have to put together Prison+Venus= love

If you did that, you'd just get; "Twilight", you'd have to add vampire to Twilight to get Edward.

I also got Dandelion + Engine = Helicopter, along these same lines.

I got s'more + smoke detector = captain hook

Obviously the prompt to the LLM is just to create the most obvious association. It may not mention "crafting" at all. Maybe it does though. Is there something obvious to craft that uses a tree and water in the process?

To design a game like this you need to do a lot better than just creating the obvious association. It needs a mix of obvious recipes and clever recipes, so that there's challenge and a sense of achievement. Also, there's a starting point. What should the graph look like?

I'm sure Neal has done hard work in getting it right.

Weed + tree = bong!

how do you make weed lol

If you look at a river system from space I guess it looks tree-like with branches.

the tree of water is the global river system." very hydrological

Meh, what would be your great response to Tree + Water?

A human can only generate a small fraction of the combinations and would have a hard time coming up with most combinations which are already nonsensical.

What is your non-disappointing idea for, idk, Tears + Pottery (AI: Bowl) or Money + Salt Lick (AI: Cow) or Skull + Lake (AI: Loch Ness) or Dracula + Pirate (AI: Vampirate) or Curse + Money (AI: Debt)? Now do that thousands of more times.

The infinite aspect is the thing that keeps it interesting, I think. The fun is getting a new, weird result like "Dracula" and "Pot of Gold" and seeing if you can generate new weird results from the existing set.

Loch Ness? I skipped to the Loch Ness Monster. Got the Lake only later on. And then I got Nessie.

This is a Quagmire

Porkosaurus, Soup Nazi, Sphinxie, Sodium Chloride, Abdominable Snowman, Baconator and both Yeti and Godzilla. And Yogazilla which is a "First Discovery".

Found myself: Thomas the locomotive

Some of my favorite first discoveries:

- Cactus Missile

- Mammoth Marula

- Super Lizard Wizard

- Cheesethorn Bush

- Cheesnado Lizard Wizard

- Cheesnado 2: Cheesnado Strikes Back

- Cheesewolftrap

I got Gay Bachelorette Party, first discovery

Glitter ketchup, same

Got Pengwynwyrvenpheonix (first discovery) Bird + Dragon, Wyrven | Penguin+Wyrven, Pengwyrven | Pengwyrven + Penguin, Pengwyn | Pengwyn + Pengwyrven, Pengwynwyrven | add a pheonix and there you go

Update : Pengwynwyrvenpheonixtopus is out Sharknado+Multiverse = sharktopus | Pengwynwyrvenpheonix + sharktopus = pengwynwyrvenpheonixtopus

Help what is a Pengwynwyrvenpheonixtopusunicorn

Yeah Loch Ness Monster + Water gave me Nessie

Tree + Water is easy: Mangrove, Bald Cypress, Rhizophora, etc

I wouldn't consider those to be better. You're enhancing the tree side of the equation but gave no examples of the water side.

And why didn't you do the rest of my examples? ;)

Jungle

Forest

Fruit

Nuts

> Tears + Pottery (AI: Bowl)

Urn

Money + Salt Lick makes sense, if it’s a Cash Cow.

Tree + water = canoe

I somehow got to Mega Evolution which I got from megalodon and some pokemon, but don’t ask me how to get to Pokémon.

Anyway, once you get that kind of a modifier, anything’s game for megaification.

Did you figure out how to get math? I’ve been trying so hard!

As usual with language models, you have to put in the work yourself to have fun with them.

I laughed when "Vindaloo + Bubble" gave me "Burp", and "Burp + No Bacon" gave me "Sad"

Ham Solo + Darth Bacon = Pork Star

Ninja + Pig = Pork Chop

The rewilding guys would probably say 'that tracks'. Many of their efforts to get rivers to flow year round usually involve trees. Moss, bugs, rodents and grasses first then trees. Usually can help many areas to have year round streams again. As roots help water linger longer in an area. Which leads to streams.

Window + Dune = Sandwich

That one surprised me.

Sandwich + Sphinx = Sphinxwich

This one delighted me. The Sphinxwich doesn't combine well with other stuff though.

I got Atlantis + Spongebob = Atlantis Squarepantis :D

I found fish + fire = sushi amusing - it isn't necessarily wrong, but it also doesn't feel right either...

How did you get to fish? Because boy do I have a story for you.

Mine starts in Atlantis, then Poseidon gives me a fish. Then two fish turned into a shark and I ended up with a sharknado.

Then I found the titanic, we hit an iceberg, I found a treasure and then pirates chased me, but I got away, sold the treasure for money and became the richest man, then climbed Mt Everest, and later had a tea party.

Anyway, there has to be a better way to get fish than Unda da Sea.

Just add water like 5 times, and you get fish

Fish + fire = sushi

Did you know that Bill Gates is the richest samurai?

Megalopolis + Volcano = Pompeii

Sushi + Asia = Japan

Japan + Destruction = Godzilla

Godzilla + Megalodon = Cthulhu

<drops mic>

Catholic Church + Pride = Pope

I got (hurricane + crocodile = hurricodile) lol

Cthulhu + richer = Richthulhu

My favorite was Lotus Flower + Mud = Buddha

Oh, that's a good one! I'm trying to collect religions and countries.

Lotus+Flower=Buddha Buddha+Religion=Nirvana Nirvana+Music=Kurt Cobain

I got bob marley, reggae, ska, bob marley and the wailers, and flo rida the rapper

North America + Fire = Canada. Naturally.

And if you set Canada on fire?

Maple syrup.

I got swamp with plant + water.

Then swamp + fire = dragon

Bankrupt + Pirate = Captain Jack Sparrow

Bacon + Judaism = No Bacon

holy water + wine = catholic church

I've also got a few where it just mashes adjectives together; so far I've found Time Poseidon, Rainbow Steam Robocloud and Broken Unicorn, among other similar ones.

My best so far is Superninjaghostmansnowghostman

Nuclear power station + Tsunami = Fukushima

Mountain range + Pollen = Hay Fever

volcano + fish = sushi

Smoke detector + fire = Firefighter

how do you get an ICBM? (Inter-Continental-Ballistic-Missile)