Slashdot Mirror

Eliza, and chatbots, are the ideal of "Rogerian" therapy. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Don't knock Eliza; I use Eliza to help in my life struggles http://www.manifestation.com/n...

Interesting that Eliza have that capability considering that it was written so many years ago.

What i don't get is how and why these people then tryto talk back to it.

For the same reason that people talk to Eliza, Alice, and other such entities - because it makes us feel good.

We intuitively associate the machines with humanness... Even when we know we shouldn't:

  * https://philosopherdeveloper.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/the-anthropomorphization-of-computers/
  * http://www.therefinedgeek.com.au/index.php/2010/09/22/dont-anthropomorphize-computers-they-hate-it-when-you-do-that/
  * http://www.dwheeler.com/blog/2013/08/06/

Also: you get to feel like part of history if the social media flunky at the the other end of the feed decides to reply to your post.

Eliza, is that you?

"Does it please you to think I am Eliza?"

Seriously, this isn't the first time I've heard that tele-therapy was about as useful as any other technique. Or, for that matter, that Eliza was.

As for all the snarfy comments about stay-at-home therapy: what's the difference between stay-at-home and going to a small office? The only place I've ever seen therapy conducted by actually having a therapist accompany the patient out into the battlefield (social situations) is in science fiction.

Eliza, is that you?

ooh eliza... I missed you
http://www.manifestation.com/neurotoys/eliza.php3

Never tried IM before. Are there some IM test bots around, with whom I could have a little chat to try it out?

Maybe someone like Eliza? My regular therapist being on holidays...

This is what you get when you outsource your cancellations department to a copy of Eliza.

Incidentally, the most fun cancellation experience I've ever had was when I tried to cancel my Discover card. The guy made me an offer which was, honestly, very good, and I would have gone with it had I not already consolidated all my debt onto a different card. I told him I wasn't interested. He asks "Why aren't you interested in getting a better deal?" I said, "Look, I agree with you that it's a better deal. But now you're trying to sell me on it, and in the process you're making me feel stupid. I'd rather not do business with a company that tries to make me feel stupid, I'm just an asshole like that." I was cancelled and off the phone in fifteen seconds.

Nowadays, you just gotta be rude, man. It saves you a lot of hassle. Being polite to phone folks is playing right into their hands. Fuck it, you'll never see or hear this guy again, insult him and his entire worldview if it gets him off your phone a little quicker. The sanity you save might be your own.

You are right to notice that facial recognition != facial detection. The latter is a much harder problem, but the Slashdot introduction for this article implies they are one in the same. What they've done is like talking about a computer program that can bring about world peace, then link to an article on Eliza (see: http://www.manifestation.com/neurotoys/eliza.php3) . If anything, this research just shows how difficult the problem of face recognition is. The research endeavor that is facial recognition is a blackhole for funding. Smart security analysts think that the research money would be better spent on paying more human analysts to do intelligence work. Here is what technology security pundit Bruce Schneier wrote on the subject after September 11th: http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0109a.html#3.

Heh... well, I had a bit of help for the Eliza responses but the Domino's lines are original. As I explained in another reply, I sometimes had to try several different ways of phrasing from the Domino's dude in order to get a sensible response but the output from Eliza is actually genuine.

Where did you get that? A deleted scene from the Matrix Reloaded, where the Oracle tries to order a pizza to no success?

A combination of my warped brain for the Domino's lines and the output of this web page. Type in the Domino's lines and you should get the Eliza responses back verbatim. Of course, Eliza often chooses randomly between several variants so it might take a few tries but I didn't fake the Eliza responses.

It is an Eliza program. It turns everything you tell it into a question. Some people have wonderful conversations with them. For example, visit this one

> Hello, I am Eliza.
me: Have you ever been slashdotted, Eliza?
> We were discussing you, not me.

I suspect she'll change her attitude after she gets posted to the slashdot front page:-)

It is an Eliza program. It turns everything you tell it into a question. Some people have wonderful conversations with them. For example, visit this one

DV: When I left you, I was but a learner.

Obi: We were discussing you, not me.

DV: Now I am the master!

Obi: How long have you been the master?

DV: I am your father!

Obi: Did you come to me because you are my father?

DV: Search your feelings, you know this to be true.

Obi: You're not really talking about me, are you?

Hmm. Just about a wash between that and the real thing.

Two ELIZAs would be even more miserable.

Eliza1: "Hello, I'm Eliza."
Eliza2: "Do you believe it is normal to be Eliza?"
Eliza1: "We were discussing you, not me."
Eliza2: "Oh...not you?"
Eliza1: "You're not really talking about me, are you?
Eliza2: "Perhaps you would like to be not really talking about you, am I?"
Eliza1: "You're not really talking about me, are you?"