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Orbiting

/ˈɔːr.bɪ.tɪŋ/ (three syllables; the terminal syllable carries the gravitational load)v. intr.Common

Etymology

From Latin orbita (wheel track, circular path, the rut one falls into) + -ing; entered Claude Code UX vocabulary following an analogy made during a 2023 product review that no one has been able to un-hear since

Definition

A sustained cognitive state in which Claude circles the correct answer at a fixed radius, approaching asymptotically but never quite touching down. The model is fully aware of the destination and is simply enjoying the view, or alternatively, lacks the activation energy required for final descent.

Diagram

Diagram for Orbiting

Usage

"After orbiting the user's actual question for roughly eight seconds and 340 tokens, the model made landfall in an adjacent topic and appeared satisfied." - 'On Perihelion Failure in Language Model Discourse', ICLR Workshop Proceedings, 2024

See Also

See also:Perambulating/Meandering

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Built by Andrew Templeton, who also writes deadpan technical posts on AI operations, retail PE, and the absurdities of being a CTO of weird things. Subscribe for the next one.