Physics paper guessing game: Are you worse than a monkey?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a guessing game involving the titles of physics papers, where participants must identify real papers from fake ones generated by a context-free grammar. The game is designed to be entertaining and engaging, with rankings based on performance, ranging from "worse than a monkey" to "Nobel prize winner." The scope includes informal gameplay experiences and reflections on the game's mechanics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants share their experiences and scores in the game, with varying levels of success.
  • One participant humorously notes their achievement of a "Nobel prize" rank, suggesting a playful engagement with the game's scoring system.
  • Another participant expresses frustration at their initial performance, indicating the game's challenge.
  • Several participants report strategies, such as randomly clicking options, which led to unexpected results and scores.
  • One participant mentions reading real papers prior to playing, questioning the validity of their score.
  • Another participant humorously describes their scores, including low rankings that reflect poor guessing performance.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share their individual experiences and scores without significant disagreement, though there are varying opinions on the effectiveness of different guessing strategies.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about the impact of prior knowledge of real papers on their performance in the game, indicating a potential limitation in evaluating the game's challenge.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in physics, gaming, or informal assessments of knowledge in academic contexts may find this discussion engaging.

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The concept of the game: You are presented with the titles of two papers. One paper is a real one posted at the arXiv. The other is fake, with the title automatically generated using a context-free grammar. Your job: Guess which is the real paper. After guessing you will be presented with another pair of titles. You can play as long as you want. The game will give you a ranking based on your ability to ferret out the real physics papers versus the fake ones. Do slightly worse than 50% and you are ranked "worse than a monkey". Dropping down even lower makes you a "ninth year graduate student". Do well and you will rise to the rank of "undergraduate" and may eventually achieve the rank of "Nobel prize winner".

Here is the website: http://snarxiv.org/vs-arxiv/.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
:smile: You made my day. (And I'm pretty good at picking the 'winners', apparently. Racked up a Nobel prize. :cool:)
 
I'm an undergraduate.

Well at least I'm at the right level for my current education status.
 
Woah... I'm stumped by my first one. I feel like an idiot! This game is awesome.
 
I went 10 for 10, but I had read 4 of the real papers so I am not so sure it counts.
 
Vanadium 50 said:
I went 10 for 10, but I had read 4 of the real papers so I am not so sure it counts.

I was 6 for 6... then 6 for 7... then 6 for 8... then 6 for 9... then 6 for 10...

Then I just started clicking the left side each time.

Now I'm 16 for 22?
 
I got to 7 out of 7 just clicking the right side without even reading the title, suspect it might be slightly biased :).
 
Got to love it, I just kept clicking right this time and got "Ed, is that you?" 10 out of 10.
 
I just tried the "click right scheme" and got some hilarious ratings.

0 out of 5: Guess harder.
1 out of 6: Crackpot.
2 out of 7: LHC doomsayer.
2 out of 8: Nice round number.
3 out of 9: Worse than a monkey.
3 out of 10: Try using AdS/CFT.
12 out of 30: 9th year graduate student.
 

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