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ChatGPT and Grok say Christmas either does or might have pagan origins, but not that it definitely does not have pagan origins (yes, I know "proving negatives"is very difficult†).

ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/share/676c8fd1-b6e0-8005-a86f-d43ac17634...

Grok: https://x.com/i/grok/share/8fQKIFO1WGl3nDVZ6uFaJmPTW

†Grok on proving negatives: https://x.com/i/grok/share/kcHkjqzJ5lx5kMyl4GL0nMuw3



LLMs do very poorly at judging the truth of long-term myths. When something has been asserted confidently on the internet over a long enough period of time it becomes baked into the weights, regardless of truth.

I provided a source from a religious studies scholar on Christmas trees specifically (one of the most frequently-cited "pagan" traditions). If you can point me to something with similar provenance I'll read it, but I'm not going to waste time on LLM responses.


Ok, but what about asking someone who knows (anything)?




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