Rainbow Slinky on an Escalator: GPT Wins on Speed, Claude Wins on Physics Realism
shniydder · reddit · 2026-09-05
- Inspired by the 'pelican on a bicycle' test, the author designed a 'rainbow slinky tumbling forever down an up-escalator' challenge: a single HTML file, canvas only, no libraries, comparing both models side by side.
- GPT 6 Astra max: fast and light on the weekly usage quota, but output felt too simple — with a physics bug where the slinky passes through itself.
- Claude Fable 5.1 max: passed the eye test with surprisingly realistic motion, but burned through the entire 5-hour usage window and once errored out at the output token limit.
- Verdict: Claude wins on quality, GPT wins on speed. The author shares the full prompt and invites better test ideas.
More from Fun
- Cohere co-founder's snarky poem on AI grifter and clout-chasing culture — suchenzang · 2026-09-06
- GTA 6 will be the last mega game made without AI, argues dev commenter — gabriel1 · 2026-09-06
- Astra recreates Hamilton's Ferrari in 3D after studying F1 specs and videos — reach_vb · 2026-09-06
- That PyTorch matmul Precision Warning Is Worth Reading After All — generativist · 2026-09-06
- Enterprise tester pushes model to write a terminal emulator entirely in CUDA — brandon_galang · 2026-09-06
- Cheap 3D Web Demos Flood Feeds: Stolen Assets, Unoptimized THREE.JS Code — cactusnein · 2026-09-06