I wrote an article about the reasoning abilities of LLMs some time ago. During it's creation I discovered that ChatGPT failed this simple /test/ https://www.arnaldur.be/writing/about/large-language-model-r...

One of the DeepSeek-R1 models solve it, but it's a pretty funny solution:

``` User: A man and a goat are on one side of a river. They want to cross it. They have a boat. What steps do they need to follow?

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B: <think> Okay, so there's this puzzle where a man and a goat are on one side of a river, and they want to cross it using a boat. Hmm, let's see. I remember hearing similar problems before, usually involving other animals or objects, like a wolf and a cabbage, or something like that. Those often require some strategic thinking about what can be left alone and what needs to be taken first.

In this case, though, it's just a man and a goat. That seems simpler, but maybe there's a catch I'm not seeing. Let me think step by step. So, the man needs to get the goat across the river. The boat is there, so they can use that. But is there anything else involved? I mean, sometimes in these puzzles, you have other elements that complicate things, like a wolf or something else that can't be left alone with the goat. But here, it's only the man and the goat.

Wait, perhaps the simplicity is the key. Maybe the answer is straightforward because there's only two things involved—the man and the goat. So, the steps would be something like: the man takes the goat into the boat, rows across, and then they're both on the other side. That seems too easy, but maybe that's it. I mean, when you have more items, you have to be careful about leaving certain things alone, but here, since it's just the man and the goat, there's no risk of anything getting into trouble if left alone.

But maybe I'm missing something. Let me visualize it. The man is on one side, the goat is with him. He gets into the boat, takes the goat with him, rows across the river, and then they're both on the other side. There's no mention of anything else he needs to bring back or anything else on the other side. So, maybe the solution is just that simple.

Alternatively, sometimes in these puzzles, the boat can only carry one or two, but in this case, since it's the man and the goat, maybe the boat can hold both. I think the key here is that there are no other animals or items to worry about, so the steps are straightforward.

Wait, but in the traditional puzzle, the man has to take items across, and sometimes has to make multiple trips because he can't leave certain things unattended. But since here it's only the man and the goat, maybe the problem is designed to test if the person recognizes that the only complication (like in the classic puzzle with another animal) isn't present here, so the steps are much simpler.

So, to break it down:

    Man and goat are on the starting side.
    Man gets into the boat with the goat.
    Man rows the boat to the other side.
    They both arrive safely on the other side.

That seems to be it. There's no complication, so the solution is straightforward. I think I might be overcomplicating it, but considering the problem only mentions the man and the goat, there's nothing else to juggle. So, the steps are just taking both across in one trip.

Yeah, I think that's it. No need to worry about leaving the goat alone because there's nothing else to cause a problem. So, the answer is simple in this case. </think>

The man and the goat can cross the river in one smooth trip since there are no other elements to complicate the process. Here's how they do it:

    Board the Boat: The man gets into the boat with the goat.
    Row Across the River: The man rows the boat to the opposite side.
    Arrive Safely: Both the man and the goat safely reach the other side.

This straightforward approach works because there are no additional constraints or elements to consider. ```

I'm curious to know if there is a good reason for this very rambly style of speech.