I asked Gemini (Google’s A.I.) to complete some analogies that had been suggested to me by a few recently read Homeric similes. Results are edited for length:
ME: how would you conclude the following analogy. “As ships are to horses, stones are to what?”
GEMINI: As ships are to horses (transportation over water), stones are to birds (obstacles to flight).
ME: How about this: “As stones are to snow, ships are to what?”
GEMINI: As stones are to snow (hindrance to accumulation), ships are to waves (hindrance to smooth passage).
ME: “As wave is to fire, fire is to what?”
GEMINI: As wave is to fire (extinguisher), fire is to wood (fuel).
(Of this answer Gemini further says: “This analogy highlights the contrasting roles of opposition and sustenance.” It gives explanations for all its responses but this one I was curious to know.)
ME: Last one! As fire is to wooden ship, wave is to what?
GEMINI: As fire is to wooden ship (destruction), wave is to sandy beach (shaping).
Finally combining all these analogies (or rather, the similes they came from), I asked it: “How is standing on multiple ships like an expert horse-rider riding multiple horses like how fire is brought upon a ship to burn it like a wave is brought over a ship to sink it like how the falling of stones cast as weapons is like the falling of snow?”
Gemini, while admitting this was an interesting question — in fact, it always concedes the interest in the question — discussed the meaning of each individual simile without making an effort to say how the similes were alike.
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 