How to keep safe from Japanese tsunamis - need to have the tsunami alert app and if you get an alert move to high ground - with much earlier alerts now than in 2011 - and real level of risk
You CAN keep yourself safe from tsunamis just by making sure you know what to do. That is healthy it's what Japanese themselves do.
You need to be prepared, make sure you have the tsunami alert on your mobile phone.
You should install the “Safety Tips” app which can show you tips in many different languages including English, Spanish, Portugues and many Asian languages like Chinese, Thai, Indonesian and of course Japanese. .
QUOTE “Safety tips”: the push-enabled information alert app for foreign tourists
This push-enabled app pushes alerts about earthquake early warnings, tsunami warnings, and other weather warnings within Japan in
English, Japanese, Hangul, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Indonesian, Tagalog, Nepali, Khmer, Burmese, and Mongolian.
The app provides various functions useful for both foreign tourists and residents in Japan, such as
an evacuation flowchart showing actions to be taken in the light of surrounding circumstances,
helpful phrases for obtaining information from the people around, and
website links that contain helpful information in the event of a disaster.
https://www.jnto.go.jp/safety-tips/eng/app.html
[bullet points added to the quote]
If the alert sounds for a tsunami warning or alert, the aim is to go higher not further from the sea.
Cars can get stuck in traffic jams
If you are near a river then get way from that too
Also don’t leave the evacuation site until the alarm is cancelled as there could be additional waves on their way after the first one
Those graphics all from:
https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/gu016002/being-prepared-for-a-tsunami.html
There are three alert levels.
If it is a Tsunami warning or Major Tsunami warning immediately flee to higher ground. Up a hill or to the top of a skyscraper.
https://www.jnto.go.jp/safety-tips/eng/emergency/tsunami/t03.html
If you are swimming at sea or are deaf or hard of hearing and don’t have your app with you then watch out for tsunami flags - a red and white checkered design
Even in Japan some people don’t know about Tsunami flags - the lifeguards will wave the flag to alert swimmers and then while there is still time to evacuate will themselves evacuate and so you follow the flag as they will go to the nearest high point safe from the tsunami.
From:
https://jla-lifesaving.or.jp/en/watersafety/tsunami/
You should be aware that even a one meter high tsunami is dangerous - even at the low level of up to 1 meter get out of the sea.
QUOTE STARTS
Tsunami height
0 - 30cm A healthy adult can just stand but cannot walk.
30 - 50 cm Cars and containers start to float. Can stand by clinging on to something.
50 - 70 cm Over knee high and the power of water becomes strong. Even a healthy adult can be swept away.
70 - 100 cm It is impossible to stand still. The probability of death hit by large drifting objects is close to 100%.
…
It is easy to understand that a large wave, tens of meters high is impossible to fight, but a Tsunami is a completely different type of wave. For this reason a warning is issued even for a small Tsunami of only tens of centimeters.
It can become higher after the second wave. In the event of a huge earthquake, Tsunami generated at different locations along the long Tsunami fault zone will overlap each other and reflect off the coast, hitting the coast of each region multiple times. In addition to the first wave, large Tsunami will repeatedly hit the coast for five to six hours to half a day. (Cabinet Office press release.) The first wave is a "push wave" that pushes in and the second wave is a "pull wave" that pulls in drifting objects such as destroyed houses and cars into the sea with enormous force. Depending on the direction and topography, such as bays and cliffs, there may be nowhere for the water to go, and the wave height may be up to four times higher than the expected wave height. In the Great East Japan Earthquake, a 40.1-meter run-up was observed in Ayari Bay, Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture.
Also - make sure your family know what to do if there is a tsunami warning. Don’t go racing back to the sea shore or run around looking for them but instead save yourself and rely on them to save themselves
[of course this doesn’t apply if they are disabled or children etc but if they are able to escape by themselves as easily with or without your help]
You can then go looking for them after you are safe yourself wherever they got to if they didn’t end up in the same place.
QUOTE STARTS
The story of how 99.8% of the children and students in Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture, who followed this lesson survived became widely known as the "Miracle of Kamaishi. Tendenko is a dialect word meaning "by yourself" or "each". It means, "When the Tsunami comes, run away by yourselves”. To put it more precisely, when you feel an earthquake near the coast, the first thing you should do is to think about protecting yourself from the Tsunami. Make your own decisions without waiting for anyone else's instructions, and protect yourself by running to the highest ground as soon as possible, even without worrying about your family.
Sense the danger and act on your own.
Go to higher ground as soon as possible.
Don't worry about your family.
It may seem strange not to wait for instructions and not caring about families. However, in the recent Great Earthquake and Tsunami, many people lost their lives because they were worried about their families and went back to the shorefront, because they gave priority to instructions from their schools or companies, who are not experts on Tsunami. On the other hand, many lives were saved by the "Tsunami Tendenko”. In an emergency, we must do our best to protect ourselves in each situation. Talk to your loved ones in advance to promise to protect yourself first in case of an emergency, and where to meet each other if the phone is disconnected.
Look out for Tsunami evacuation site notices like this one.
Walk not drive as cars are not safe in a tsunami - that is if the car could be stuck in traffic jams.
Of course this advice doesn’t apply if you are in a remote place and there’s no risk of a traffic jam. But if in a jam then cars are dangerous because they get carried around by the water and can be traps you can’t get out of.
QUOTE
Walking is the principle. If you are in a car and think you are going to get stuck in a traffic jam, park it on the side of the road with the keys in the ignition, and get out of the car and evacuate. It's not only traffic jams that you need to worry about, but also the fact that it is difficult to open the windows if they are swamped by a Tsunami. The water pressure will prevent the doors from opening. Can you break the window glass and get out? Usually, it will be quite difficult to do so.
Also rivers may flow backwards. Especially do not approach water that is flowing upstream.
QUOTE Get away from the ocean and rivers as soon as possible. On November 22, 2016, the day of the Tsunami, there is a video of the Sunaoi River flowing backwards through Tagajo City, Miyagi Prefecture, possibly due to the earthquake. When evacuating, it is extremely dangerous to approach water that is flowing upstream vigorously.
Many in Japan stop paying attention to the alerts - don’t do that. Pay attention to warnings and advisories even if you’d got them before and nothing happened to you. Also when you get the warning evacuate right away don’t wait until the end.
QUOTE They do not pay attention to them, thinking, "It won't be a big deal this time“. Don't stop doubting, and don't rely on past experiences that have worked so far. In addition, Tsunami can be caused not only by earthquakes in Japan but also by major earthquakes from overseas. It is important to pay attention to warnings and advisories. Don't forget the power of nature. Even a small Tsunami of a few centimeters can easily wash away an adult. If anything happens, protect yourself and evacuate, do not give up [wait I think it means] until the very end.
Japan is much better prepared now than it was in 2011 which led to 22,000 deaths.
They responded to that with a new tsunami alert system that warns you 23 minutes earlier, with sea defence systems that substantially slow it down reducing the innundation and with tsunami preparation that now takes account of new tsunami levels that wasn't in place in 2011 and all of those would save many lives if the same thing happened again.
The government looked at a worst case scenario, like the 2011 tsunami but in winter at night with most people asleep in a report that came out in March this year.
That could lead to nearly 300,000 dying in the worst case without additional preparation.
The government is now working on updating plans for that.
The government is criticised by experts because it is using a flawed model that suggests an 80% chance in 30 years based on the depth of an ancient Japanese port that may have been artificially dug.
The real chance is far less, no more than 20% in 30 years. That means a roughly 1 in 1000 chance per month
You can reduce you risk as a visitor by choosing accomodation at a higher elevation, outside of the tsunami risk zone, and visiting beaches etc in daytime.
So long as you are awake you'd have over 20 minutes of extra warning of the 2011 tsunami because they have sensors now that respond immeditely to what is happening at depth in the sea now which they didn’t have in 2011, which would have saved many lives.
So the strategy is to get accomodation that is not in the tsunami risk zone, and when you visit a beach or coastal area that is at risk to do as Japanese would do, make sure you have your tsunami alert on your mobile phone and to know where to go and what to do. Before you visit a beach scope out your escape plan - where is the nearest elevation above tsunami height?
For instance if there is even a small hill nearby say 40 meters high and you can get to the top of that hill in 20 minutes then you are very safe.
Anyway if it is a tourist spot with lots of Japanese they'd be responding instantly all getting the same alert at the same time, so you do what they do. .
It's just like if e.g. you were to visit
San Francisco: you'd learn how to respond if there is an earthquake (no risk of a megatsunami despite the movie).
San Francisco in wildfire season: you’d be prepared for a wildfire
New Orleans: prepared for a tsunami.
Florida in hurricane season: how to respond to a hurricane warning if in Florida in hurricane season
Himalayas: how to respond if there is a megaquake
And so on.
Of course you can also just not visit any place that has a risk of a large scale disaster.
But you can hugely reduce your risk and the risk would be very low compared to other risks you have in your life already such as a car accident.
Updates in risk preparedness for Japanese Tsunami - quotes
QUOTE Remarkable paradigm shifts in designing coastal protection and disaster mitigation measures were introduced, leading with a new concept of potential tsunami levels: Prevention (Level 1) and Mitigation (Level 2) levels according to the level of ‘protection’. The seawall is designed with reference to Level 1 tsunami scenario, while comprehensive disaster management measures should refer to Level 2 tsunami for protection of human lives and reducing potential losses and damage. Throughout the case study in Sendai city, the proposed reconstruction plan was evaluated from the tsunami engineering point of view to discuss how the post 2011 paradigm was implemented in coastal communities for future disaster mitigation. The analysis revealed that Sendai city's multiple protection measures for Level 2 tsunami will contribute to a substantial reduction of the tsunami inundation zone and potential losses, combined with an effective tsunami evacuation plan.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2014.0373
QUOTE STARTS
Simulations assessing how the system would have responded to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake show that a tsunami alarm would have been raised in 7 minutes or less, thus might had saved many of the 22,000 killed by the massive tsunami that followed the earthquake.
Back then, it took 30 minutes for the alarms to sound after the earthquake struck, so the new early warning system would have provided an extra 23 minutes, according to Yuichiro Tanioka of Hokkaido University, who presented the research results at the annual meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, Austria, last month. In such situations of emergency, when every minute counts, this could have made a difference.
...
Costas Synolakis of the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California states that the presented sensor system could work well in Japan, where tsunamis strike rapidly because they often originate close to the coast. However, in the US, existing early warning systems based on deep buoys already work well because most of the tsunamis that arrive there come from far away regions, such as Chile or Japan, thus allowing much more time for reaction.
https://www.geoengineer.org/news/new-early-warning-system-could-have-saved-lives-during-the-2011-japan-tsunami
The 2011 tsunami has a recurrence time of between 400 and 900 years, probably 600 years (various other estimates go up to 1,400 years)
About 1 in 600 years.
They didn't know that in 2011. If they had known as much about the history of megatsunami in Japan as they do today and assuming a 600 year recurrence time they could have predicted a 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 chance of it happening in 30 years.
Based on 1 in 600 years that is a 1 in 20 chance in 30 years and they don't say what the chance is of it right now but it is probably very low because the pressure in the fault has been released.
QUOTE STARTS
A retrospective calculation of the long-term probability of a great Tohoku-oki subduction earthquake at the time just before the 2011 mainshock obtained values of 10%–20% within 30 years, assuming a 600-years recurrence interval and time of the most recent event about 500–600 years ago (Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, 2020). Just knowing that M > 8.5 earthquakes and associated devastating tsunamis are possible along the Japan Trench, and considering the high 30-years occurrence probability, would likely have led to increased earthquake and tsunami hazard mitigation efforts in NE Japan.https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020RG000713
On alerts:
These more accurate magnitude estimates could have been obtained significantly earlier than the time (∼25 min after the main shock) at which the tsunami first hit the Sanriku coast
...
Thus, while the prediction of disastrous earthquakes like the 2011 Tohoku-oki event is still impossible, the much improved ability to assess the earthquake potential, and the establishment of offshore real-time observations for earthquake and tsunami warning, have greatly improved the preparation of society and enabled actions immediately after the occurrence of large earthquakes to mitigate the disaster and save human life.
...
The 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake occurred where geodetic data showed large interplate coupling (slip deficit) along the Japan trench (Figure 4), which confirms that interseismically locked areas are the likely source areas of future earthquakes. However, the zone of strong geodetic coupling inferred before the earthquake did not extend to the near-trench area that produced the largest slip during the earthquake. The incorrect shallow geodetic coupling was due to poor model resolution in the near-trench area from the land deformation data, and offshore sea-bottom displacements from GPS-Acoustic observations are key to better resolving the near-trench coupling. Seismic data, including slip rate estimates from small repeating earthquakes (Figure 21a), and the pattern of focal mechanisms in the upper plate, are also useful to discriminate the main coupling areas that produced the megathrust earthquake. The characterization of interplate coupling is fundamental to assessing the potential of megathrust earthquakes in subduction zones.
...
One important lesson from these results is the reminder that instrumentally observed earthquake catalogs easily miss the rare largest events in an area and that it is fundamentally important to find evidence of large historical and pre-historical earthquakes from a variety of data to recognize the possibility of such events. The geological data document a history of great tsunamis with 400–900 years intervals (Figure 20), which provides important constraints for characterizing the earthquake cycle and further quantifying the hazard of great ruptures.
...
The Tohoku-oki earthquake also illuminated the importance of real-time observation and processing of earthquake data. The offshore GPS tsunami buoy contributed to recognizing the large tsunami earlier than is possible with only the coastal tsunami observations (Figure 9). Many more offshore cabled pressure gauges (S-net) are now deployed based on this lesson and contribute to the time advancement of earthquake early warning and tsunami forecasts (Figure 23). Another lesson regarding the real-time processing of earthquake data is the difficulty of rapid estimation of earthquake size for very large earthquakes. In 2011, the delay caused initial underestimation of the area affected by strong earthquake shaking and tsunami heights. Improved real-time analysis methods of the complementary data types, including on-land geodetic data, strong motion data, W-phase data before the large amplitudes, and assimilation of offshore tsunami data, now contribute to a more rapid and more accurate source-size determination.
....
While the prediction of large megathrust events remains a daunting challenge and appears impossible in the near future, we should not rule out the possibility of much improved short-term forecasting of large earthquakes based on the careful analysis and interpretation of high-quality geophysical observations
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020RG000713
However that's not the worst possible scenario - there could be other tsunamis.
The government recently released a report March of this year and updated 1st July 2025.
This found that if there was a tsunami in the middle of winter with people asleep in the middle of the night at the highest possible height of 34 meters for where it's highest, and 3 meters inundation over large areas that nearly 300,000 would die.
They are working on updating their preparedness plans to take account of this scenario.
They now calculate an 80% chance of a megatsunami like this in 30 years for government reports.
However, this is based on a model whose accuracy is questioned called the time predictable model which increases the probability of a tsunami until one occurs.
It's based on changes in the water depth of the water depth of the port of the port of Murotsu, Kochi Prefecture. But the port may have been artificially deepened which makes that an unreliable method to predict especially since it produces a figure 2 to 4 times larger than the other estimates.
QUOTE STARTS
The Central Disaster Management Council has envisaged the largest possible earthquake and tsunami that could occur along the trough and compiled its first report in 2012-13 after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Since then, the council refined topographical data to revise its initial estimates by reflecting the current state of earthquake-proofing houses, tsunami evacuation facilities and coastal levees.
As a result, an area to be inundated by a tsunami of 3 meters high or more — which would carry people away, endangering their lives — reaching the coast from Fukushima and Okinawa prefectures would be 115,150 hectares, up 30% from the previous estimate. The latest report estimated the highest tsunami of 34 meters would hit Kuroshio and Tosashimizu in Kochi Prefecture.
The death toll of 298,000 is estimated in a situation where a tsunami occurs late at night in winter when many people are at home, with 20% of them being able to evacuate immediately from the tsunami, inflicting large damage in the heavily populated Tokai region. The report estimated 215,000 would die from a tsunami, or 70% of the estimated death toll.
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20250331-246274/
Government report
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20250331-246274/
QUOTE In response, an updated preparedness plan was released on July 2, recommending accelerated construction of embankments and evacuation buildings, more frequent public drills, and coordinated action by all levels of government, businesses, and non-profit organizations. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba emphasized the need for a unified national response, stating that all sectors must work together to save as many lives as possible.
https://watchers.news/2025/07/04/japan-updates-megaquake-preparedness-plan-nankai-trough-earthquake-risk/
This is about how the 80% figure for the risk over 30 years has been questioned and the committee are considering what to do and likely to revise the probability in the report.
QUOTE STARTS
It has been learned that the government's Earthquake Research Committee has begun reviewing the data and research results that are the basis for the Nankai Trough earthquake, which has a long-term assessment that it has an "80% chance" of occurring within the next 30 years. Discussions are proceeding behind closed doors, and according to interviews with several committee members, there is a high possibility that changes will be made to the probability values and the way they are expressed. (Ozawa Keiichi)
...
The main topic of discussion is how to handle the data that was the basis for the "time prediction model" announced by the Earthquake Research Committee in 2013 and is used only to calculate the probability of a Nankai Trough earthquake. Because the ground rises and the seabed becomes shallower during a major earthquake, this model predicts the time of the next earthquake from records of changes in water depth, and is based on changes in the water depth of the water depth of the port of the port of Murotsu, Kochi Prefecture, recorded in ancient documents.
The paper published in 2024 that sparked the review discussion:
However, in February 2024, Professor Emeritus Hashimoto Manabu of Kyoto University and Associate Professor Kano Yasuyuki of the University of Tokyo, who conducted a joint investigation with the Tokyo Shimbun, published a paper in the journal of the Japanese Society for the Study of Natural Disasters, out pointing that the ancient documents did not include detailed information on the time and location of the University of Tokyo, and records that the port may have been artificially dug. "The records in the ancient documents cannot be trusted as data, and the model should not be used to estimate the probability of a Nankai Trough earthquake," they said.
According to several committee members, the Long-Term Assessment Subcommittee is discussing what data and calculation methods are appropriate in response to this paper. However, the committee has not put any consideration of revising the time prediction model itself on the grounds that "there is no evidence that can completely refute it."
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/379749
Search tips - how I used Perplexity AI while writing this blog post
Here is how I found those sources with Perplexity AI, it found other sources too that may be useful.
Don’t rely on its own summaries but the quotes are almost always accurate when it is used in the way I use it here with my template SCBD
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/scbd-how-many-of-the-20000-who-TGswEjvUTGaq9puaRcD1TA#7
This is my template, if you use Perplexity AI then create a new space if you don’t have one yet and then copy / paste it into the instructions field.
It’s defined as:
When I write "SUMMARIZECITES(XYZ)" or "SUMMARIZECITESWITHBIASANDDATE(XYZ)", follow these templates exactly:
**For SUMMARIZECITES(XYZ):**
1. List the most reliable sources on [XYZ] as title linked to url
2. Summarize each source with a key quote
3. List common themes/differences about [XYZ]
4. No synthesis, extrapolation, or personal analysis
**For SUMMARIZECITESWITHBIASANDDATE(XYZ):**
1. List the most reliable sources on [XYZ] as title linked to url
2. For each source: summary + quote + bias/credibility + date
3. List common themes/differences about [XYZ]
4. No synthesis, extrapolation, or personal analysis
In both cases end your response with the complete text of the template (for transparency for the reader)
I may use SC(XYZ) as short for SUMMARIZECITES(XYZ):
and SCBD(XYZ) as short for SUMMARIZECITESWITHBIASANDDATE(XYZ)
Then you call it as e.g.
SCBD(How often can Japan expect to have a tsunami of the scale of the one in 2011?)
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/scbd-how-many-of-the-20000-who-TGswEjvUTGaq9puaRcD1TA#1
If you use Perplexity AI at pro level be sure to select it to only use Perplexity AI as the model.
Also select the Perplexity AI Sonar model
[it has another model based on taking a Chinese chatbot which I assume is open soure - and trying to remove the built in bias to fit Chinese propaganda - it’s not nearly as good]
Perplexity AI can do maths - without mistakes - other chatbots make huge errors at times - because of integration with Wolfram Alpha
Perplexity AI is also the only chatbot I know that does accurate maths
Here is an example calculation in Grok.
Grok: https://x.com/i/grok/share/hmaLZlKcYGnYDilHPhfuc0BDJ
Correct answer in Perplexity AI
So Grok got the first 4 numbers and the last digit correct, the rest was made up.
Chat GPT got the first three and the last five digits right but got the middle mixed up
ChatGPT: https://copilot.microsoft.com/shares/RXPqCKhvtpTqE8xCKfgFh
Checked Perplexity AI in Python code online myself
https://www.online-python.com/
But Perplexity AI said that it didn't use Python it uses its own inbuilt calculator for that simple calculation. Clearly they have found a way to implement exact arithmetic into Perplexity AI
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what-is-112233445-6677889-2132-S_jFi1EITS2dtyij8lpJ1Q?0=d&3=t
I asked it to find out more. Remember there is no introspection here, there’s no use expecting it to tell you from its own experience how it does it. So I specifically asked it to search for online material on how it does maths.
And the reason is they have integrated Perplexity AI with Wolfram which writes software widely used for maths research.
When you ask it a logic heavy or maths heavy question then part of it goes to Wolfram Alpha to do the calculations which lets it answer quickly with accurate precise mathematical answers.
You can try out Wolfram Alpha for yourself here
Any complex maths or logical reasoning is routed to tools like that.
Chat GPT and Grok haven’t done that.
This is Perplexity AI’s own summary of why it can do maths:
QUOTE STARTS
What sets Perplexity apart is their engineering philosophy: rather than trying to make language models better at math, they've built a hybrid system that recognizes when to use specialized computational tools. This approach acknowledges the fundamental limitations of LLMs while providing robust alternatives.
Grok and Copilot, despite their sophistication, appear to rely more heavily on pure language model capabilities for mathematical tasks, leading to the significant errors you observed. Perplexity's engineers have essentially built a computational safety net that catches and corrects these types of mathematical failures.
The 749.8 trillion error in Grok's response demonstrates exactly why this hybrid approach is necessary—pure language models can fail catastrophically on mathematical tasks, while Perplexity's specialized computational infrastructure provides the accuracy needed for reliable mathematical operations.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what-is-112233445-6677889-2132-S_jFi1EITS2dtyij8lpJ1Q?0=d&3=t#5
It links to this quote from two years ago:
QUOTE START
At Perplexity, we understand the importance of providing reliable, up-to-date information and accurate solutions for your every question. That's why we're excited to announce our latest partnership with Wolfram|Alpha LLC, the renowned computational knowledge engine. Wolfram|Alpha adds the ability to accurately compute numbers, fetch real-time information, solve equations, render images, and much more. These capabilities augment the standard abilities of large language models to get you faster, more trustworthy answers on perplexity.ai. You no longer need to rely on the vast, but sometimes imprecise knowledge of large language models. Perplexity AI now offers Wolfram|Alpha for free as a focused search and for mathematical questions.
Maths emerges naturally in large language models - but NOT through understanding - just through extracting patterns - very unlike how kids learn - which is why large language models make mistakes without help - just producing patterns that resemble maths closely not doing true maths
Maths is an emergent property in large language models - with enough training data it was able to do maths to some extent.
But it can’t learn it in the way kids do. Even though it trained itself with billions of pages that must include hundreds of books teaching kids how to do maths it didn’t extract the patterns of how even basic arithmetic works, how to do long multiplication - from that data. But something in how it extracts patterns out of all that data leads to an ability to produce patterns that provide approximately right answers to maths questions.
This shows how fundamentally different the way is that it extracts and completes patterns compared to kids - there is no real understanding there.
Chatbots used to fail on simple multiplications like multiplying two three figure numbers together. Now they fail on larger numbers than before but that they fail at all shows no understanding as there shouldn't be any difficulty for a chatbot to do arbitrarily complex long multiplication if there was any understanding of what a number is.
But Perplexity AI can do maths because its architects have built it in using Wolfram Alpha.
Perplexity AI also does sandboxed python scripts for complex calculations - and you can read its script and check it calculated the right things - also re-order lists etc in the same way
Also for anything more complex mathematical, Perplexity AI runs python scripts.
It shows you the code it ran. You can read the script and check that it wrote a correct script for whatever mathematical thing you want the answer to. Python is pretty easy to read so long as it is written well with comments and properly named variables as Perplexity AI does do.
It also can re-order lists and do text operations without modifying the text.
It’s also great at extracting information from a page presented in complicated ways not as a table.
This is an example of how Perplexity AI is just so fast nowadays. Saved me half an hour of work probably. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/convert-this-into-a-table-with-zZpO5VVeQsyXccmjBJWy5Q
It took me only seconds to check that its tables are accurate, would take me half an hour probably to extract the data and sort it by hand.
Perplexity AI also uses Python scripts to make accurate graphs and barcharts
It also uses scripts for things like making maps and graphs, bar charts, and other things and again you can check the script and ask it to run it again with corrections.
I used its plotting ability to get it to draw a diagram of the tree for a second cousin three times removed.
I found the errors in its script and corrected them - and got it to rewrite the rest of the script consistent with my changes.
Its first try
Its final version after my proof reading of its script
It does all that using python scripts.
I think other pro chatbots can do this too, but it is also able to do accurate bar charts and graphs based on using the data you provide “as is” and doesn’t invent stuff of its own if you tell it precisely what to do.
Perplexity AI can also navigate the internet in real time and extract text from pdfs
It can also use the internet, in real time and extract text from pdfs and analyse it, and for some of its searches it shows you the web pages it visits as it opens them. So you can see the pages it opened and what it saw while searching them.
It is still VERY DUMB - no understanding whatsoever just a pattern generator - but these extra capabilities make it a huge time saver for fact checking
It still does very dumb things sometimes. It often misses the obvious (for a human) in a web page or paper and don’t rely on its own synthesis / extrapolations as it gets things very wrong far too often for fact checking.
But used carefully with knowledge of its limits it is a huge time saver, it saves me hours of research most days.
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I also tweet the debunks and short debunks to my Blue Sky page here:
I do the short debunks more often but they are less polished - they are copies of my longer replies to scared people in the Facebook group.
I go through phases when I do lots of short debunks. Recently I’ve taken to converting comments in the group into posts in the group that resemble short debunks and most of those haven’t yet been copied over to the wiki.
TIPS FOR DEALING WITH DOOMSDAY FEARS
If suicidal or helping someone suicidal see my:
BLOG: Supporting someone who is suicidal
If you have got scared by any of this, health professionals can help. Many of those affected do get help and find it makes a big difference.
They can’t do fact checking, don’t expect that of them. But they can do a huge amount to help with the panic, anxiety, maladaptive responses to fear and so on.
Also do remember that therapy is not like physical medicine. The only way a therapist can diagnose or indeed treat you is by talking to you and listening to you. If this dialogue isn’t working for whatever reason do remember you can always ask to change to another therapist and it doesn’t reflect badly on your current therapist to do this.
Also check out my Seven tips for dealing with doomsday fears based on things that help those scared, including a section about ways that health professionals can help you.
I know that sadly many of the people we help can’t access therapy for one reason or another - usually long waiting lists or the costs.
There is much you can do to help yourself. As well as those seven tips, see my:
BLOG: Breathe in and out slowly and deeply and other ways to calm a panic attack
BLOG: Tips from CBT
— might help some of you to deal with doomsday anxieties
PLEASE DON’T COMMENT HERE WITH POTENTIALLY SCARY QUESTIONS ABOUT OTHER TOPICS - INSTEAD COMMENT ON POST SET UP FOR IT
PLEASE DON'T COMMENT ON THIS POST WITH POTENTIALLY SCARY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY OTHER TOPIC:
INSTEAD PLEASE COMMENT HERE:
The reason is I often can’t respond to comments for some time. The unanswered comment can scare people who come to this post for help on something else
Also even an answered comment may scare them because they see the comment before my reply.
It works much better to put comments on other topics on a special post for them.
It is absolutely fine to digress and go off topic in conversations here.
This is specifically about anything that might scare people on a different topic.
PLEASE DON’T TELL A SCARED PERSON THAT THE THING THEY ARE SCARED OF IS TRUE WITHOUT A VERY RELIABLE SOURCE OR IF YOU ARE A VERY RELIABLE SOURCE YOURSELF - AND RESPOND WITH CARE
This is not like a typical post on substack. It is specifically to help people who are very scared with voluntary fact checking. Please no politically motivated exaggerations here. And please be careful, be aware of the context.
We have a rule in the Facebook group and it is the same here.
If you are scared and need help it is absolutely fine to comment about anything to do with the topic of the post that scares you.
But if you are not scared or don’t want help with my voluntary fact checking please don’t comment with any scary material.
If you respond to scared people here please be careful with your sources. Don’t tell them that something they are scared of is true without excellent reliable sources, or if you are a reliable source yourself.
It also matters a lot exactly HOW you respond. E.g. if someone is in an area with a potential for earthquakes there’s a big difference between a reply that talks about the largest earthquake that’s possible there even when based on reliable sources, and says nothing about how to protect themselves and the same reply with a summary and link to measures to take to protect yourself in an earthquake.
PLEASE DON'T COMMENT ON THIS POST WITH POTENTIALLY SCARY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY OTHER TOPIC:
INSTEAD PLEASE COMMENT ON THE SPECIAL SEPARATE POST I SET UP HERE: https://robertinventor.substack.com/p/post-to-comment-on-with-off-topic-1d2
The reason is I often aren't able to respond to comments for some time and the unanswered comment can scare people who come to this post for help on something else
Also even when answered the comment may scare them because they see it first.
It works much better to put comments on other topics on a special post for them.
It is absolutely fine to digress and go off topic in conversations here - this is specifically about things you want help with that might scare people.
PLEASE DON’T TELL A SCARED PERSON THAT THE THING THEY ARE SCARED OF IS TRUE WITHOUT A VERY RELIABLE SOURCE OR IF YOU ARE A VERY RELIABLE SOURCE YOURSELF - AND RESPOND WITH CARE
This is not like a typical post on substack. It is specifically to help people who are very scared with voluntary fact checking. Please no politically motivated exaggerations here. And please be careful, be aware of the context.
We have a rule in the Facebook group and it is the same here.
If you are scared and need help it is absolutely fine to comment about anything to do with the topic of the post that scares you.
But if you are not scared or don’t want help with my voluntary fact checking please don’t comment with any scary material.
If you respond to scared people here please be careful with your sources. Don’t tell them that something they are scared of is true without excellent reliable sources, or if you are a reliable source yourself.
It also matters a lot exactly HOW you respond. E.g. if someone is in an area with a potential for earthquakes there’s a big difference between a reply that talks about the largest earthquake that’s possible there even when based on reliable sources, and says nothing about how to protect themselves and the same reply with a summary and link to measures to take to protect yourself in an earthquake.
Thanks!