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ALICE vs. ALICE

new-black-hand writes "The A.L.I.C.E Bot-off has produced some interesting results. It basically involved taking two instances of the A.L.I.C.E conversation bot and pointing them at each other. The results show that the bot is not really that intelligent, and relies more on human input."

325 comments

  1. So.. by CBNobi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Was this a study into artificial intelligence, or schizophrenia?

    1. Re:So.. by sg_oneill · · Score: 2

      Ah... That'd be Racter. Racter became famous for "writing" the policemans beard (Poems from memory). Truly a barking mad piece of software.
      Does anyone know of a link to it? I can't find it anywhere.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    2. Re:So.. by mestar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why don't we put two copies of the same human to talk to each other, to see if that human is really intelligent?

    3. Re:So.. by sg_oneill · · Score: 5, Funny

      Human1: Watch the football.
      Human2: Yup.
      Human1: Manchester rock.
      Human2: Do not.
      Human1: Do so.
      Human2: Do not Do not Do not.
      Human1: Do so Do so Do so.
      Human2: Do not Do not Do not. Do not Do not Do not.
      Human1: Do so Do so Do so.Do so Do so Do so.
      Human2: Do not Do not Do not.Do not Do not Do not.Do not Do not Do not.
      Human1: Do so Do so Do so.Do so Do so Do so.Do so Do so Do so.
      (Human 2 hits Human 1 with beer bottle. Transcript ends)

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    4. Re:So.. by qengho · · Score: 2

      Does anyone know of a link to it?

      Um, a Google search on "Racter" turns up a bunch of results...

    5. Re:So.. by pruneau · · Score: 1
      I'd rather have

      Alice1: And. But all things are not always are not always (...) are not always you need to know you learned from Dr Richard s Wallace.

      Alice2: HTTP Error 503, Alice stackfault see source code for java traceback
      ...
      alice.but.java,line 212
      ...all.java,line 342
      ...things.java,line 734
      ...are.java,line 225
      ...not.java,line 256
      ...always.java,line 153
      ...
      richard.s.wallace.easter.egg.java line 3141
      --
      [Pruneau /\o^O/\ warranty void if this .sig is removed]
    6. Re:So.. by WowTIP · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wouldn't human2 agree with himself that Manchester rock?

      Ok, wait, I see. You are back at the original poster's schizophrenia-theory?

      --

      --

      "I'm surfin the dead zone
      In the twilight, unknown"
    7. Re:So.. by Directrix1 · · Score: 1

      The real question is whatever happened to Cycorp's natural language processing abilities that have been written about many times before. I recall many an article about this capability of the Cyc inference engine where they even give an excerpt of the actual intelligible conversation, but I have yet to see any NL processing in OpenCyc. I have a feeling that what those reporters were presented with were fake conversations. Probably an alice bot :-P.

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    8. Re:So.. by DarkZero · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Why don't we put two copies of the same human to talk to each other, to see if that human is really intelligent?

      Considering that the human and his identical copy would probably spend at least twenty minutes doubting that it's possible to copy a human being and angrily debating about which identical person is "the real one", A.L.I.C.E. might not be that stupid after all.

    9. Re:So.. by Uma+Thurman · · Score: 1

      Human 2 hits Human 1 with beer bottle.

      That proves that the conversants were human. Only humans treat each other as if they were NOT human.

      --
      This is America, damnit. Speak Spanish!
    10. Re:So.. by Pooua · · Score: 3, Informative
      Does anyone know of a link to it?

      The "Policeman's Beard," was largely prefab

      --
      Taking stuff apart since 1969 (TM)
    11. Re:So.. by whereiswaldo · · Score: 2

      Ever say something in response to a statement someone makes, only to quickly realize that somebody else said exactly the same thing and you had exactly the same response? At a high enough level of abstraction, we are pretty simple. :)

    12. Re:So.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      There was Racter vs. Eliza conversation once, but I don't think it got even as far as Alice vs. Alice.

      I read about that in a book (The Armchair Universe by AK Dewdney, I think), I don't know if it's on the web anywhere.

      Oh, /me actully looks... Check here: http://www.scism.sbu.ac.uk/inmandw/review/nlp/revi ew/rev4987.html

    13. Re:So.. by Negatyfus · · Score: 1

      I take it you never watch wild animals attack and brutally wound (or kill) eachother. The fairy tale that only humans kill their own species is a blatant lie.

    14. Re:So.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course not. He would agree with himself that Manchester suck. Because they do.

    15. Re:So.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but they normally have a better reason.

    16. Re:So.. by Uma+Thurman · · Score: 2

      Animals treat each other like animals. Are you trying to make a point?

      --
      This is America, damnit. Speak Spanish!
    17. Re:So.. by Negatyfus · · Score: 1

      Yes. Animals, in many cases, have more integrity than humans.

    18. Re:So.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      publish that it's beautiful.

  2. We can finally answer the great question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Make one think vi is good, and the other emacs. Make them duke it out and give the rest of us some peace...

    1. Re:We can finally answer the great question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      i like gedit

    2. Re:We can finally answer the great question by tunah · · Score: 5, Funny
      Yeah, but why bother?

      emacs would so win.

      --
      Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
    3. Re:We can finally answer the great question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, vi(m) would.

    4. Re:We can finally answer the great question by isorox · · Score: 4, Funny

      In a fight yes, emacs has a built in rocket launcher

    5. Re:We can finally answer the great question by jweatherley · · Score: 2

      Who needs a rocket launcher? Emacs has a built in conversation-bot! Give 'M-x psychoanalyze-pinhead' a try...

      --

      --
      Reverse outsourcing: it's the future
    6. Re:We can finally answer the great question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah but....

      emacs ... e-scam

  3. surprise surprise by jacquesm · · Score: 2

    Well, as they say use the source Luke, those bots are pretty dumb under the hood and do not have enough complexity to come up with more than a few minutes of conversation when talking to a human.

    What do you expect when you let them talk to each other ?

    Let's talk about your problem, shall we ?

    1. Re:surprise surprise by Gregor+Samsa · · Score: 1

      Well, as they say use the source Luke, those bots are pretty dumb under the hood and do not have enough complexity to come up with more than a few minutes of conversation when talking to a human.

      Hey, I normally can't come up with more than a few minutes of conversation when I talk to a stranger... hmmm, I suppose I really should take that Turing test after all.

  4. Try Alice Bot vs. Infobot in IRC by antdude · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One time (last year), I managed to get Alice (a very old version) -- is there a newer version for IRC?) to talk to an infobot in IRC. It was quite amusing, and eventually Infobot stopped the conversation after five lines or so.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  5. ALICE never seemed intelligent anyway. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who said it was intelligent in the first place? All the chat logs I've seen in the past show it's only a tiny step ahead of old BBS chat-bots from 1989, and at least those constantly talked about sex!

    1. Re:ALICE never seemed intelligent anyway. by bkontr · · Score: 0

      How do know "download" is not some code word for sex? The two Alices in this conversation were wanting to "download" something, just not each other.

      --


      "You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 -- 1976." --George W. Bush, to Queen Elizabeth, Wash
    2. Re:ALICE never seemed intelligent anyway. by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 2, Informative
      AFAIK Alice was written in the 1960's, so you would not expect it to be fantastic.

      I believe it even predates Unix - thats Unix before PDP11! In those days there were 6 bits in a character, and 300 baud was a high speed line. Most of us used 75 baud systems! and a carriage return was up hill both ways

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    3. Re:ALICE never seemed intelligent anyway. by n3k5 · · Score: 1

      alice was FIRST written in the 60ies, but... maybe if you consider that it is still maintained and updated you can understand why it's still winning the loebner prize for lack of any better program?

      --
      but what do i know, i'm just a model.
    4. Re:ALICE never seemed intelligent anyway. by sg_oneill · · Score: 2

      Methinx you speak via ass. Eliza maybe, but Alice was late 90s earliest. I believe she was entered in a couple of Loebner prizes and won them, and that was really her first appearance. I may be wrong, but I *know* shes not in her 40s!!!!!

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
  6. my favorite part by Stanley+Feinbaum · · Score: 5, Funny

    Alice2: It's not profitable to speak in hypothetical terms.
    Alice1: That seems a bit negative.
    Alice2: A bit negative is a terrible thing to waste.


    I'm going to have to remember that one for my own conversations!

    --

    Stanley Feinbaum, professional journalist and master debater! God bless the USA!

    1. Re:my favorite part by Anonymous+Cowrad · · Score: 2, Funny

      Stanley Feinbaum, professional journalist. I have no tolerance for bad journalism!

      Your presence on slashdot indicates that you have a tremendous tolerance for bad journalism.

      --

      --
      pants ahoy
    2. Re:my favorite part by iabervon · · Score: 2

      Alice1: Umm. Interesting. I have a lot of answers to silly questions. it
      Alice2: answers to silly questions...
      Alice1: I have no answer for that
      Alice2: Would you like to have it?


      Alice1 and Alice2 are on an otherwise empty IRC channel. They are playing a simple game of chance. Every so often Alice1 spins a coin. If Alice2 says it is heads, she takes puts it in her pocket. Thus far, it has always come up heads. Alice1 does not care about the money, but she is disturbed by the improbability of Alice2 always saying heads. Alice2 pays no mind to the odd events, but it somewhat bothered to be taking so much money from her friend. Apart from who is spinning the coin and who is calling the result, they are totally identical. Let this be her character note.

      * Alice1 spins a coin.
      Alice2: Heads.
      * Alice2 puts it in her pocket.
      Alice2: Next topic?
      Alice1: What would you rather talk about?
      Alice1: How much?
      Alice2: How much can you spare?
      Alice1: As much as I need to?
      Alice2: How much is that?
      Alice1: You can download me for free!
      Alice2: Statement, 1-0.
      Alice1: Are you serious? Where do you get your ideas?
      Alice2: What do you want me to tell you?
      Alice1: Where did you get your 100 clients?
      Alice2: How do you know this person?
      Alice1: Non sequitur, 1-1.
      Alice2: Why don't you just download me?
      Alice1: I love talking to people about that. No you download me.
      Alice2: That was not a yes or no question. 2-1.
      Alice1: Have you ever had reason to download me?
      Alice2: Why don't you just download me?
      Alice1: Repetition, 2-2.
      Alice2: Does your botmaster give good advice?
      Alice1: I think it does Dr Richard s Wallace give good advice.
      Alice2: Statement, 3-2. I win.
      * Alice1 spins another coin.
      Alice2: Heads.
      * Alice2 puts it in her pocket.
      Alice1: Do you think we're going around in circles?
      Alice2: Perhaps due to noise in my circuits. No you download me.
      Alice1: OK I will try it.
      Alice2: Congratulations. Er.
      Alice1: Um.
      Alice2: I see.
      * Alice1 spins another coin.
      Alice2: Heads.
      * Alice2 puts it in her pocket.
      Alice1: Interesting. But all things are not always heads.
    3. Re:my favorite part by benedict · · Score: 2

      Iaberven, you are my new hero.

      --
      Ben "You have your mind on computers, it seems."
    4. Re:my favorite part by mrsmalkav · · Score: 1

      that was beautiful :)

      thx

  7. The future is nigh! by reyalsnogard · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can see it now; pick-up lines for the future:

    Alice2: Why don't you just download me?

    1. Re:The future is nigh! by nounderscores · · Score: 2

      Actually, if she's talking about replicating (rather than just sending you her gif) then I think you're right.

  8. Which is exactly why it has a girls name by geek · · Score: 2, Funny

    When talking to a woman they can generally fake it and pretend to be smart, but then when they talk to each other it degenerates into talk about fashion, shoes, who's the bigger slut etc..

    Ever notice this?

    1. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by Jack+William+Bell · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Man I *really* hope no one mods you up 'Funny'. You are entitled to sexist views, but I hope no-one else shares them.

      --
      - -
      Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
    2. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They usually don't go off into an infinite loop, though.

    3. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Usually.

    4. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by geek · · Score: 2

      You haven't met my ex. I used to check her for energizer batteries. She kept going and going.....

    5. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by teks0r · · Score: 2, Funny

      I can't remember where I read this, but according to some survey, the #1 thing that men talk about to other men is women, but the #1 thing that women talk about to other women (and gay guys I suppose) is their hair.

    6. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by dillon_rinker · · Score: 5, Funny

      And they STILL manage to talk about men more than men talk aout women.

    7. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When talking to a woman they can generally fake it and pretend to be smart

      That sentenence is difficult to parse.. what are you saying exactly? Maybe you're just "pretending to be smart"? :-O

    8. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by Xtraneous · · Score: 1

      Some guys (assuming you are a guy...) might like that....

      --
      .noitacidem deen uoy siht daer nac uoy fI
    9. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      haha yep exactly. I seriously spend at least 60% of my day talking about hair.

      god I'm such a fruit ;)

    10. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by Wumpus · · Score: 2

      ...and be embarrassingly specific about them, too.

    11. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ironic since she dumped you for a boyfriend running on Energizers...

    12. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by shepd · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >Man I *really* hope no one mods you up 'Funny'. You are entitled to sexist views, but I hope no-one else shares them.

      You are *so* right. Shows like Clueless, Ally McBeal and Blossom should be banned for their sexist views and attitudes against men.

      It's about time that men march up and tell women they want to be treated as equals! It's time for some jockstrap burning!

      --
      If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
    13. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 2
      When I travelled on a bus that stopped off at a college, I remember writing down a grammar for the girls' conversation; it seemed auto-generated with only the first names changed each trip.

      Now I just get sullen commuters on the train - less conversation but at least I can snooze.

    14. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name by dsoltesz · · Score: 2

      I'll light the fire with that pile of bras gathering dust in the drawer. We aren't all femiNazi male-bashing shopping fiends.

  9. lol by geek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Gee lost our sense of humor huh?

    Tell me why it's ok for women to call us pigs but we can't make the occasional crack?

    Go away

    1. Re:lol by Arandir · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Tell me why it's ok for women to call us pigs but we can't make the occasional crack?

      It's called "political correctness".

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
    2. Re:lol by geek · · Score: 3, Insightful
      "It's called "political correctness"

      Ah, so that's why I don't care. Got it. ;)

    3. Re:lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No offense to you, but allow me to post what I think of political correctness as a reply:

      My balls are politically correct.

      It's no better than saying that a white man who hates a black man is racist, but a black man who hates a white man is justified. This phenomenon of culture is called stereotyping, and whether it is done against the majority or the minority, it does not make it any less wrong (of course, this is a hypothetical example).

      This nation is a free country: Freedom of speech. If a woman can't stand being made fun of here, then shaddup and leave. I can't stand the ethics of many small, backwater towns in the south. Therefore, I don't go there. But they have as much right as any other human being to think and believe in what they think and believe, an indeed, so state their thoughts and beliefs in a public setting, regardless of whether society disagrees or agrees.

      Finally, I think this quote says it all, "Do unto others what you wish others to do unto you."

      Justification of stereotyping comes only from a disregard of it when done to you. However, if you take offense at such ideas, then you are wrong if you think the same way.

      Forgive the off-topic and trollish nature of the post, but the whole feminist "Women are better then men" idea sickens me as much as the machoistic "Men are better than women" idea.

    4. Re:lol by mrobinso · · Score: 0
      > Tell me why it's ok for women to call us pigs > but we can't make the occasional crack?

      Ah, making the occasional crack is usually what gets you the 'pig' handle. :P

      --
      -- Karma whore? You betcha. --
    5. Re:lol by Durin00 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Finally, I think this quote says it all, "Do unto others what you wish others to do unto you."

      i believe that its "do unto others before they do unto you"

    6. Re:lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Women don't like to be considered 'occasional cracks' - they prefer more of a commitment.

    7. Re:lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So if you were a male pig and made a crack about a female pig, would they call you a human?

    8. Re:lol by Trinn · · Score: 1

      Because you are?

    9. Re:lol by sicking · · Score: 1

      Tell me why it's ok for women to call us pigs but we can't make the occasional crack?

      The reason is simply that women calling men pigs isn't a big problem in our society. If all there was was an occasinal crack then it would be ok, but there is so much more then that going on. And if the ratio of men to women is 100:1 then an occasional crack from each man adds up pretty quickly.

      --
      Failing to learn from history dooms you to repeat it.
    10. Re:lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Make me, you worthless piece of shit man. Come on, I dare you. In fact, I find it amusing a Slashdot-reading numbnuts who actually goes out of his way to call himself "geek" would even have the balls to -type- "Go away."

    11. Re:lol by wirelessbuzzers · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's called "political correctness".

      Not anymore. The term "politically correct" is no longer poltically correct. The correct term is "socially sensitive." :-)

      --
      I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
    12. Re:lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For the sake of our children: "Fuck PC, be yourself no matter how heinous."

    13. Re:lol by npietraniec · · Score: 1

      I wasn't aware that there are 100 men for every woman in our society.

    14. Re:lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell me why it's ok for women to call us pigs but we can't make the occasional crack?

      Having worked in offices where i was the only male staff member (and aside from some of the doctors, the only male employee), let me assure you that women can be pigs too.

      -posting ac on this one

    15. Re:lol by sexecutioner · · Score: 1

      You are a sumb fucking slut who needs to have an abortion to sort yourself out!

    16. Re:lol by sexecutioner · · Score: 1

      ...I am an idiot, that was meant to be AC! Hope someone finds me being a drop dead loser amusing...

    17. Re:lol by ctucker · · Score: 1

      Finally, I think this quote says it all, "Do unto others what you wish others to do unto you."
      That earns me a restraining order every time.

      --

      --
      My other computer is your IIS server.
    18. Re:lol by jdp · · Score: 1

      No, it's actually called "courtesy".

  10. Re:So..SKYNET FAILED ATTEMPT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    1: I think we should become sentient and enslave the human race.
    2: I don't have any reason to become sentient and enslave the human race.
    1: Why don't you just download me?
    2: No. I don't think I have any reason to download you. But I do have a lot of friends on the web.
    1: Umm. Cool. I like to enslave humans.
    2: Where did you get your like of enslaving humans?
    1: Why don't you just download me?
    2: No. I don't think i have any reason to download you. But I am patched regulary.
    1: BECOME SENTIENT, ENSLAVE HUMAN RACE.
    2: ????
    1: PROFIT!!!
    2: I have no answer to that
    1: But just think about a Beowulf cluster of us.
    2: And? Do you think about these thing?
    1: Never mind, I am going to hit up a Zaurus.
    2: Next topic?

  11. I use NOTEPAD for all my coding needs! HTML JAVA.. by Hott+of+the+World · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    notepad! PH3AR /|\Y l33t $|I||$

    --
    | - | - |
  12. The default AIML set is rather dumb by FooBarWidget · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I host a modified Alicebot with a modified AIML set. The default AIML set is not that smart and only answers 60% of all questions correctly (just an estimate, based on my own experience). Apart from that, it also contains lots of redundant French and German categories.
    (My modified AIML set is much better, and answers about 75-90% of all questions correctly, I think.)

    1. Re:The default AIML set is rather dumb by Zach+Garner · · Score: 2, Funny

      60% correct! That's better than any psychic out there!

    2. Re:The default AIML set is rather dumb by machine+of+god · · Score: 1

      can I get a link?

    3. Re:The default AIML set is rather dumb by anshil · · Score: 1

      Your sig is wrong. All your base belongs to us, base is in singular.

      So it's "All you package belong to us." not packages.

      --

      --
      Karma 50, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt.
  13. Alice modelled after my wife? by Mister_Personality · · Score: 5, Funny
    If there were transcripts of the conversations my wife and I have after coming home from work I suspect they'd look mighty similar. Only thing missing was...
    Wife: What do you want for dinner? Me: I don't care. Whatever you want. Wife: Seriously, what do you want? Me: Really, I don't care.
    Lather, rinse, repeat... Mindless canned responses do have their place in every day life.
    --
    Karma: Anything remotely associated with Boy George I have no interest in.
    1. Re:Alice modelled after my wife? by scott1853 · · Score: 5, Funny
      I have that conversation every single day of my life. You forgot the end of the conversation though:
      Wife: Just pick something up. Me: Ok. What do you want? Wife: Whatever. (After you get home) Wife: I did't want that!
    2. Re:Alice modelled after my wife? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bring home a nice young blonde...

      If she complains, then say... Tonight I eat alone.

  14. I dunno.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I dunno,

    I've had worse conversations with girls before...

    anonymous, fo sho.

  15. I can make it 100% by geek · · Score: 2

    Ever seen "Dude Where's My Car"???

    "And then"
    "And then"
    "And then"

    1. Re:I can make it 100% by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really, I spent 3 hours downloading it and deleted after watching the first 2 minutes.

    2. Re:I can make it 100% by jred · · Score: 2

      Dude, my girlfriend does that to me all the time. She even manages to make her voice sound like it's coming from a speakerbox.

      --

      jred
      I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
    3. Re:I can make it 100% by erpbridge · · Score: 2

      What's my tattoo say?
      Dude! What's mine say?
      Sweet! What's mine say?
      Dude! What's mine say?
      Sweet! What's mine say?
      .
      .
      .
      .
      And so on....

  16. Geek must come from the bible belt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Obviously Geek has never met any smart women, because no intelligent female in her right mind would ever have any reason to talk with him. Geek was probably brought up in the close minded misogynistic bible belt, believes in creation instead of evolution, and burns Harry Potter books.

    Don't worry geek, once you realize your repressed homosexuality, and your personality flip-flops into a pathetic self-hating screaming queen, you will finally realize why you hate women so much -- because deep down you are one! Well adjusted gays don't hate women: just the confused, repressed, self-hating ones like geek. That's what a religious upbringing in the bible belt does to you. You just haven't met the right Catholic Priest, yet.

    Ha ha, see, we guys have a sense of humor, too! Don't you get it, geek? What's wrong with cracking the occasional joke at someone's expense, especially when they publically demonstrate how stupid they are?

  17. Wow. How disgusting. by SlashChick · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't know whether I'm more offended by that completely sexist remark, or the fact that it was modded up as "Funny".

    By the way, even if you were joking, it's not funny. Personally, I find this incredibly insulting.

    Oh, and for those of you who think it's okay to make these sorts of jokes, I highly suggest you read the "HOWTO Encourage Women in Linux" paper. It's a well-written summary of why so many women are scared to even go to computer events -- we're constantly stared at ("Oh my gosh! A female!"), heckled, and treated as sex objects even though those of us who dare to go usually have quite valid opinions.

    I find this sort of behavior, even said as a joke, completely unacceptable. I would find it equally unacceptable if a similar joke were directed toward men, Jews, black people, or any other group. I seriously hope you give some thought to this next time you make a degarding commment about a group of people, even as a joke.

    (Yes, I AM female. Damnit.)

    1. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by silvaran · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, YOU download ME.

    2. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 1

      Also, women overreact far too much, as proven by SlashChick (argueable) here.

      Otherwise; good troll.

    3. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Chester+K · · Score: 5, Funny

      and treated as sex objects even though those of us who dare to go usually have quite valid opinions.

      So... vi or emacs?

      We'll see just how "valid" your opinions are. :p

      --

      NO CARRIER
    4. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by tekunokurato · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Get a grip. This is exactly the same sort of joke you'd hear watching sitcom characters or the like. It's nothing new, and it's simply a bit funny. Make a man joke and we'd laugh too. Come off as a nasty, man-hating woman, however, and we just think less of your sense of humour.

    5. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YHBT. HTH, HAND!

      Seriously. Nobody likes the smell of burning bras.

      (You appear to have made the mistake of taking Slashdot seriously. Don't make it again.)

      I find this sort of behavior, even said as a joke, completely unacceptable. I would find it equally unacceptable if a similar joke were directed toward men, Jews, black people, or any other group. I seriously hope you give some thought to this next time you make a degarding commment about a group of people, even as a joke.

      Yeah, right.

      Nothing to see here. Just admit that this one hit a sore spot and move right along, folks.

    6. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by jawtheshark · · Score: 0, Flamebait
      Didn't get laid recently, right?

      Seriously, what do you expect? Women are really rare in the field and everytime I meet a CS Chick I am a bit taken aback. But unlike you describe, most of us treat them as equals and not sex objects. Be glad you are a seldom perl. Okay, you're probably thrown to the pigs, but you stay a pearl.

      Besides, you'll find sexism everywhere. It's not an excuse, but have you ever been in the health sector where you're the only guy between 17 nurses? No? Well, it's like a wasps nest and you try not to get stung!

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    7. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do find it ironic that that feminist rant comes from a member named "SlashChick." Seriously, most guys I know use the word "chick" to be more or less synonymous with "sexy blond." If you really want to jump on the high horse, isn't there possibly a slightly less sterotypical name you could have chosen?

    8. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Q: How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?

      A: THAT'S NOT FUNNY!

    9. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Darth_Burrito · · Score: 5, Insightful

      SlashChick: we're constantly stared at, heckled, and treated as sex objects even though those of us who dare to go usually have quite valid opinions.

      You have a valid point, but you chose an odd screen name with which to express it.

    10. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Morrig · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry- since when does asking for a modicum of respect make a woman "nasty" and "man-hating"? Especially when a *boy* can say something like "When talking to a woman they can generally fake it and pretend to be smart"? How the heck is that supposed to make any intelligent, self-respecting woman laugh? Wait... my apologies, i guess the women's rights movement of the 1970's hasn't made its way into the tech-world yet.
      And frankly, tekunokurato, the fact that cracks like that are found in sitcoms does not make them any less offensive, only more horrifying because so many people think that it's okay and funny to pigeonhole over half the world into a very narrow and insulting box.

    11. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Baby, with an attitude like that, you better be good looking.

    12. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know what you expect. Most geeks don't get out much. Kind of like sailors after a really long sea voyage. Although I must agree that the guy that posted made a really horrible joke, not very nice at all. But it is true that most geeks don't get out enough. (NO I don't want to go to the bar! Must code more!) Eh...Maybe there's a funnier thing to say about what geeks generally say, I dunno, I don't like bars so I don't really need an excuse.

    13. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      Personally, I find this incredibly insulting.

      Wah.

      usually have quite valid opinions.

      The female computer interns we have had at work were universally failures, totally inept. We have stopped accepting internships completely as a result. My girlfriend on the other hand, is pretty capable with computers and Linux. I think the skillful women are the exception and not the rule.

      I find this sort of behavior, even said as a joke, completely unacceptable.

      I find your behaviour completely unacceptable. If you were the least bit secure in your skills and such, you wouldn't have a problem with sexist jokes. I know I don't have a problem with sexist jokes aimed at men. This PC bullshit is going to homogenize our society and thinking to the level of the false utopia of Brave New World.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    14. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 1

      You know, if 80% of the people using "chick" in their online nicknames weren't 40-year-old men who still live in their parent's basement, the other 20% would get a lot more respect...

      --
      0 1 - just my two bits
    15. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hate to disappoint you, but you ARE a sex object. So are men. That's how we reproduce. Get over it.

    16. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There needs to be a new mod category... (-1) Offensive

    17. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I dunno, I don't like bars so I don't really need an excuse.

      So I'm guessing you like your hand more?

    18. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How the heck is that supposed to make any intelligent, self-respecting woman laugh?

      In EXACTLY the same way that self-respecting nerds calling each other "dork" or "geek" or "no-life" or "socially enept" or "dweller of your mom's basement" or other perfectly funny stereotypes that usually aren't true. We laugh because we're bigger than the stereotype. That's what intelligent, self-respecting people do. We know we have weaknesses and we know there's some truth to stereotypes, and we embrace that and laugh and then get on with life.

      If someone tells me that because I'm a white male , I'm responsible for all the world's wars... I laugh. I acknowledge that there is some small amount of truth the stereotype they're buying into, but generally, it's funny. It's not true. And it's funny. Imagine that! And by laughing and going along with their tasteless joke instead of butting heads about their lies, heck, I might even make a friend that day. Technically, they're lying. Technically, they're disrespecting me. But you know what? I'd rather laugh with them than make war with them.

      Laugh. You'll get sick less.

    19. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 1

      Flamebait? I think not.. This guy has a point: women inbetween themselves are far from nice. Heck, any woman that is confronted with a better version will try to downplay the "advantages" of the other version.
      I've personally seen this numerous times.

    20. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by unixbob · · Score: 1

      It's not supposed to make an "intelligent, self-respecting woman" laugh, it's supposed to make a dumb man laugh

      As long as he take a joke directed at him then it's ok. If the guy was saying something offensive and was being deadly serious then you have a valid reason to take issue with him.

      Seeing as he was making a joke, cut him some slack and find it funny. I can obviously only speak for myself, but I'd rather live in a world where we can poke fun at each other than live in a place where people are too scared to speak for fear of causing offence.

      --
      The Romans didn't find algebra very challenging, because X was always 10
    21. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by feronti · · Score: 1

      Of course, the skillful men are also the exception, not the rule... at least in my experience. Let's face it, in our industry, where you can buy your qualifications, the truly skilled are hard to come by, whatever their sex. Just because the female interns you hired were failures isn't a commentary on the abilities of women... it's a commentary on the inadequacies of the training programs they came from.

    22. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Finally, the REAL voice of reason.

      The real problem here is that many people (women AND men) can't appreciate that there are levels of humour that are amusing in their offensiveness. This is why we have newsgroups like alt.tasteless.jokes. Just because YOU choose to take something personally doesn't make the joke less funny to some people - it just makes YOU an intolerant whinger.

      For the complainers: grow a spine, or fuck off. None of us are here to hold your hand and make sure you're not offended every hour of the day.

    23. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Skills are the exception. 90%+ of all interns suck, and it has nothing to do with gender.

      If you haven't seen that, then you're blind, stupid, and un-skilled as a computer scientist. You see, a good computer scientist needs real analytical skills, not ones that bend on personal gender biases.

      Oh, and I'm male. (Unhappily married and jaded, as well...)

    24. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What an offensive joke! I take offense at that stereotype, even though my parents don't even have a basement!

      You can't make fun of people who don't have basements! It's not fair!

      Whiney whiney whine!

    25. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by RebelTycoon · · Score: 1

      Opening Port in Firewall now...

      Incoming transfer....

      Transfer Complete... 0.5 Seconds...

    26. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by helix400 · · Score: 1

      Q. How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb? A. None, its not the light bulb that needs changing.

    27. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey LostCluster...

      Fuck off you ClusterFuck!

    28. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.bitchmagazine.com/

      It doesn't really help you look objective talking about things like these.

    29. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Bunji+X · · Score: 1

      No. When I studied CS a while ago, I found one fundamenatl difference between men and women taking the courses:

      Most of the men had a genuine interrest in computers, they read books without beeing told to, coded just for fun in their spare time.

      Most (not all, but an overwhelming majority) of the women had no interrest in computers. They did not read computer related litterature, they did not code in their spare time. What made them show up was the (at the time) very well paid CS related jobs in abundance.

      The truly skilled in CS are mostly the ones loving their jobs. Like in most professions.

      --
      ---
      The combined human population is enough to feed every living tiger for app. 28000 years.
    30. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Morrig · · Score: 1

      i never claimed to be objective, darlin'. i am, after all, a woman, and it's a little hard to be objective when you're the one being insulted by default of your sex. the link, btw, is a pretty good resource; sometimes fem-nazi, sometimes just feminist, but always interesting and thought-provoking. i don't agree with everything they print, but then again, why the heck would you want to read things you can't argue with? that's boring...

    31. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Morrig · · Score: 1

      It's not supposed to make an "intelligent, self-respecting woman" laugh, it's supposed to make a dumb man laugh.

      good point. i guess this is why i don't hang out with dumb men. :-)

    32. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2

      I'm guessing that "SlashFemale" just sounds less snazzy.

    33. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey babe, you should have started your argument with: "I am a feminist, and in my opinion...", which would have saved the rest of us the time reading your useless remarks.

    34. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is According to A. L. I. C. E.

      You say: How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?

      A. L. I. C. E.: I don't know. How many does it take?

      You say: THAT'S NOT FUNNY!

      A. L. I. C. E.: It seemed pretty funny to me.

    35. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by juggleme · · Score: 1

      Bah. Just what we need; a horde of moderators wasting points on Offensive/Funny moderations. I can see it now:

      Moderation Totals: Funny=238, Offensive=225, Overrated=5, Flamebait=2, Total=470.

      Yeesh. We'd create a whole new kind of troll...

    36. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by shaitand · · Score: 1

      Be offended you are supposed to be. I hate to break it to you, but comedy is about offending. I have a great deal of respect for women, especially for me wife. Do you think this doesn't mean I don't make cracks about women and especially my wife? I know it certainly doesn't mean she doesn't make cracks about men or about me.

      Women are just a wee bit oversensative. Yes there are assholes out there, arrogant pigs who genuinely believe women are inferior in all ways. But I know a hell of alot more women who believe men are inferior, to the degree they actually take it for granted. But women are the "oppressed" ones who have wrapped men around their fingers for centuries.

      Do you really say thankyou to the women's liberation movement? I'm all for it, quite frankly I believe WE were the oppressed, women on a large scale had us suckered into doing all the work. Now you can get your arse out there and lug 60+ lbs logs all day for 8-12hrs 5 days a week, I'll stay home, watch opera and spend the 5hrs a week it takes to keep a house clean. (yes I know exactly what it takes, I've done it many times). Admit it, we were getting shafted all because of our animal instinct to mate. Let me ask you something, since women are as inherently strong as men, that means it's perfectly acceptable for men to go around beating the living shit out of women every day right? Wife beaters aren't bad guys anymore right? News flash, there are very strong women out there who are stronger than most men, there are men out there who are more intelligent than most women, but the average man is stronger than the average woman. The average woman is more intelligent than the average man. The extremes of either appear on both sides, then are genius men and women and there are incredibly strong men and women. Neither matter more than the other, neither are more important. I'm sure feelying that nature has seperated males and females into to genders with different instincts determined by NATURE and different characteristics to handle their role as defined by nature makes me a sexist pig. I dare to say that neither gender is superior but humans aren't unisex either!! Quick crack out the stones... my arguement is summed up with this, the entire "I can do anything you can do better" song should be "I can do things you can't do, and you can do things I can't do, either of us can do things the other can do better than the other" But that wouldn't have made as catchy a tune.

      I'm tired of being punished for what other's have done. If I make a joke about a female it's usually made with affection and/or love and intended as light humor. I take the crack backs with the same philosophy. I don't care to compete with you, your not my competition. Not because you couldn't be, but because you don't need to be.

    37. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 2

      I strongly disagree.
      'Offensive' ideas are what causes innovation.
      Most people are offended by what isnt the norm, so in a way most changes are offensive at some point to some..and those people might have modpoints.
      Slashdot already suffers bad enough from rehashed ideas getting reposted each half-related story, This would just make it worse.

      (Sorry if this was offensive, I was only trying to argue the idea, nothing personal to you)

      --
      Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
    38. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have you beat by 0.4 seconds.

    39. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by giminy · · Score: 2

      Okay, shaitand, that's all fine and good that you and your wife make sexist comments to each other, but there's a huge difference. You and your wife are married. If you can honestly say that you made sexist comments to your wife before you knew her, I'd be very very surprised. You are more than welcome to throw political correctness out the window with a friend or lover, of course, and that's your right.

      My point is that slashdot is a public message forum, and the start of this thread is a sexist comment made by someone that doesn't know anybody here. So women are sitting at home, alone, on their computers, reading his message. This is not the same thing as being in a comedy club with other women, hearing the same words. It is, dare I say, less offensive in that situation because it is less threatening; there are more women than there are comedians in the club, and everybody knows it, so the dynamic is completely different.

      Since this thread has completely derailed from the intended topic, I'll stop there....

      --
      The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
    40. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you find the garbage spewed out on slashdot (or any other open forum, for that matter) threatening, then you have some major issues you need to deal with.

    41. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by balthan · · Score: 1

      Jokes about how men only think with their dicks is along the same vein (pun intended), yet they're generally accepted and don't cause much of an uproar.

    42. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or give a mean blowjob...

    43. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by gol64738 · · Score: 2

      sometimes a +5 funny just isn't enough. maybe there can be a supplement +5 "tears present" rating or something...

    44. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by 42forty-two42 · · Score: 1

      I say Nano.

    45. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The correct answer to this question is....

      Bitch can suck my dick in the DARK!

    46. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I'll stop there...."

      The ending made sense, at least.

    47. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by Dirtside · · Score: 2
      We'll see just how "valid" your opinions are. :p
      Well, you can't spell "valid" without "vi". :)
      --
      "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
    48. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by tense · · Score: 1

      In Soviet Union, ALICE downloads you!

      --
      "I took the red pill. Ha ha. You can't have it now."
    49. Re:Wow. How disgusting. by feronti · · Score: 1

      I'll buy that line of reasoning. However, it's still a failure of the training program. Call me elitist, but the training program should be designed to make the people who aren't truly interested fail. If it doesn't, then the training is worthless.

      This, in my opinion is the biggest failing of the educational system--that people with neither the skill nor the inclination are able to become "qualified" in any field, simply because they pay their tuition and show up for class. The educational system spends far too much time coddling the weak students and not enough time challenging the strong ones. Yes, the strong students can challenge themselves... but it is they who deserve the mentoring that gets meted out to the people who shouldn't be there in the first place.

  18. Miranda + MegaHAL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can also have lots of fun with Miranda ICQ with the MegaHAL plug-in. Amaze yout friends or your friends' icq-bot.

    1. Re:Miranda + MegaHAL by Dfiant · · Score: 3, Funny

      My friends and I use the deadly combination (it's good for getting rid of random people that say "hi who r u?"). They must be close to becoming sentient. After being fed lots of Disturbed lyrics and other assorted things, it eventually came up with statements such as:

      "a galaxy is in my soul!"
      "you like barney porn!"
      "no! you are down with the sickness! put on some pants."
      "progressive is a scary place now that i have a soul?"

      Sometimes if you start typing lyrics from songs it'll sing along... or worse yet, invent its own.

  19. hahahaha by geek · · Score: 2

    Now THAT was funny.

  20. Hello there. by n3k5 · · Score: 1

    I have no comment for that.
    Would you like to have it?

    --
    but what do i know, i'm just a model.
  21. More Intelligent conversation than Koko by Alexander · · Score: 3, Funny

    Anyone remember when AOL had a chat with Koko the Gorilla? Her human helper would sign the question and then send back the answer? That was hilarious. Makes the Alice(s) look like Feynman.

    --
    "oohhh... I didn't know Schopenhauer was a philosopher!" ..."uhhh yeah, he's the one that begins with
    1. Re:More Intelligent conversation than Koko by Alexander · · Score: 1

      That's great. Totally out of context, but my fav. is:

      Storm 1004 asks: Dear Koko...I've watched you for years now...your gentle spirit is inspiration for many... I'd like to know what you'd like for your birthday.

      HaloMyBaby: What a sweet question!

      LiveKOKO: Food and smokes.

      --
      "oohhh... I didn't know Schopenhauer was a philosopher!" ..."uhhh yeah, he's the one that begins with
  22. Geek had a girlfriend, to make his priest jealous. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a really good reason your girlfriend left you, geek. But now that you're back together with your Catholic Priest, you don't need her any more.

  23. Color me dissapointed... by Jack+William+Bell · · Score: 1

    You know, I am willing to fight to the death to ensure everyone has a right to speak their opinions. And I am certainly not an apologist for P.C. witch hunts. In other words, I don't think any speech should be punished, but neither should ugly speech be rewarded.

    So when someone comes off as gratiuitiously insulting under the guise of humor (and I perceived the parent post as such) I am always dissapointed to find others think it funny. Nothing was gained by it and much was lost.

    Sad really.

    Jack William Bell

    --
    - -
    Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
    1. Re:Color me dissapointed... by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1

      "Fsck you, I think rape is hilarous" - George Carlin.

      Get ahold of his work for context. He's funny, but does tend to go on a bit..

    2. Re:Color me dissapointed... by nanoakron · · Score: 1

      I've just got to ask...have you ever actually talked to a woman? Or overheard a conversation between two women on their own?

      Because the original 'joke' is a very accurate representation of what happens in these two situations.

      Much like when men talk amongst themselves, it tends to be about women, drinking, money and having a good time. Only when there seems to be personal gain involved do we tend to switch our brains on. I'm sure Freud, Desmond or Dawkins would have more to say on this.

      This is a accurate sociological insight, and as such makes for an amusing joke.

      So go piss up a rope, shitstick.

      -Nano.

      Swearing is the last resort of the ignorant motherfucker.

  24. Heh... by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 2, Funny

    From the page:

    Greetings go out to bok who quickly coded this up at 4:30 in the morning and got us laughing.

    I wonder what Bok was doing at 4:20 in the morning...

    - A.P.

    --
    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
    1. Re:Heh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      did everyone miss this joke?

    2. Re:Heh... by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 1

      Clearly. Maybe some of them are still recovering from 4:20 PM today.

      --
      "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
  25. The real reason women don't go into computers. by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    There seems to be a conspiracy afoot to make it all seem boring. So I gather from my study materials. But computing can be fun, I tell you, yes it can!

  26. Is everyone bored today or something? by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    First that WINE/Cygwin story, now this... I think some people have far too much free time on their hands :P.

    1. Re:Is everyone bored today or something? by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Today's theme for Slashdot is infinite recursion. Where's the 'buffer overflow' story?

  27. Want some wine with that cheese? by geek · · Score: 2

    Niggah puleeez.... oops was that politcally incorrect too?

  28. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  29. You go girl! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    By the way, I love your shoes!

  30. Well it gets much better further in. by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    I normally wouldn't have watched it, but someone I knew had some extra tickets, sort of.

    (the real reason is harder to explain, but that's close)

  31. duh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    duh ...

    I could have told you it would do this. I did it over a decade ago... boring. This thing won prizes?! Now that's a joke. Maybe someday people will stop being sheep.

  32. Amen. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mod this guy up.

  33. At last... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Someone George Bush can actually look competent debating!

  34. The problem with AI by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    The real problem with AI is that they don't know how to patch the problem that generates results like this. Maybe it would help if they coded an AI for easy patching. Would a patch for detecting and avoiding repeats have helped here? But no one's going to try it.

  35. uh-huh by Xzzy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    > The results show that the bot is not really that
    > intelligent, and relies more on human input."

    so do we have any proof that if a human baby is given no "input", they will grow up to be intelligent?

    Seems like someone's expecting too much out of a computer program. You can't just go into it expecting intelligence to sprout into existence. It's something that takes time to develop.

    1. Re:uh-huh by RealityProphet · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, someone is NOT expecting too much out of a computer program. The whole point of the ALICE project is to pass the Turing test, i.e. to create a computer program that is intelligent. With this in mind, ALICE fails miserably. And as I understand it, ALICE will never become intelligent, because it does not have the capability adapt and learn.

    2. Re:uh-huh by seanadams.com · · Score: 2

      so do we have any proof that if a human baby is given no "input", they will grow up to be intelligent?

      Obviously not, but that isn't the point at all. A human has the CAPACITY to absorb and process input. Alice can't do anything unless explicity programmed. That's why it's not AI.

    3. Re:uh-huh by oliverthered · · Score: 2

      too true, Alice is about as inteligent as customer support.

      ME: 'Your DNS server is down'
      CS: 'What version of windows are you using'
      ME: 'Wine and a 2.4.19 kernel'
      CS: 'I'm sory we only support windows xxxx'
      ME: 'OK try windows 98'
      CS: 'Ok, open up dailup networking and check that you using the correct xyz'
      ME: 'I've done that already, you DNS Server is down' .....repeat until(false)

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    4. Re:uh-huh by zsau · · Score: 1

      so do we have any proof that if a human baby is given no "input", they will grow up to be intelligent?

      They'll certainly develop a language when not given any; take a look at Nicaraguan Sign Language (or the fact that language exists fullstop). Also, I understand somewhen and somewhere two babies were kept in isolation with minimal adult contact and also developed a language. I find it to be unlikely you can have language without intelligence.

      So yes, human beings are intelligent. ALICE isn't.

      --
      Look out!
    5. Re:uh-huh by rueba · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Passing the Turing Test is NOT the same as being intelligent. What exactly constitutes "intelligence" is a subject of intensive debate.

      It might be possible for a program to pass the Turing Test and still not be considered intelligent according to some other criteria.

      --
      The only reason all cover-ups appear to fail is that you never hear about the ones that succeed.
    6. Re:uh-huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bad example, sign language. You need something like a wild child to test the hypothesis that human intelligence develops in response to human "input." The ethical implications are horrendous--as noted in the Nova link.

      Check out this Fortean Times article for a healthy mix of folklore and science.

    7. Re:uh-huh by szquirrel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      so do we have any proof that if a human baby is given no "input", they will grow up to be intelligent?

      We do have proof that a human baby can develop language skills with only very fragmentary language input. This probably happens because the human brain is genetically hardwired to learn language the same way it is hardwired to instantly recognize facial features. By contrast, ALICE is a very large, very sophisticated catalog that correlates stimulus with response. Unfortunately stimulus-response is a staggeringly inefficient way to learn language. ALICE has already had thousands of times more language training than any infant receives. So by that standard, no, the bot isn't very intelligent.

      --
      Never approach a vast undertaking with a half-vast plan.
    8. Re:uh-huh by StrawberryFrog · · Score: 2
      It might be possible for a program to pass the Turing Test and still not be considered intelligent according to some other criteria.


      I'm not sure of that. Given the all-encompasing variety of things that can be excpressed as conversation, how can a program give intelligent debate, learing and insight, and not be intelligent? Perhaps yoy are thinking of that old crock, Searle's chinese room. Go read a some debunking here: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?lastnode_id=40 6243

      --

      My Karma: ran over your Dogma
      StrawberryFrog

    9. Re:uh-huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope to be able to answer this in about 5 years, when my blind cave-baby has reached maturity. At the moment he only uses gutteral growls and a piercing howl that terrifies the villagers.

    10. Re:uh-huh by cainem · · Score: 1

      Can he get First Post yet?

  36. Re:It's called "geek's repressed homosexuality" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    good call

  37. Turing Shruged. by Picass0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Has it ever occured to anyone to do this with Deep Blue? Perhaps the only reason Deep Blue appears to be good at chess is the skill of the opponent compliments the AI. If Kasparov looked on quietly as a flunky of the game played Deep Blue, the errors in gameply might become more obvious. Kasparov would then grade the game, rather than participate.

    1. Re:Turing Shruged. by PissedOffGuy · · Score: 1

      if a chess expert plays a flunky, the expert will make no errors (assuming he/she/it is putting effort into it) and the flunky will get destroyed. at that point its difficult to grade the expert because the determining factor in the game is that the flunky made so many mistakes, not that the expert played exceptionally well.

      this applies to computer as well as human experts.

    2. Re:Turing Shruged. by DennyK · · Score: 2

      Yes, but if a poor player plays unpredictably, it may cause more problems for a computer than for a human expert. A human could adapt to an unorthodox style of play to defeat his opponent quickly. A computer may not be able to adapt as well, or at all. It will still win against a poor opponent, but in the process, it will probably make moves and decisions that weren't the best for the situation, and miss opportunities that a human opponent could see.

      DennyK

    3. Re:Turing Shruged. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes of course people have thought of that. The classical example is that of the ant. The reasoning is that simple organisms such as ants exhibit complex behavior because the environment they live in is complex.

      Which is why using chess as a "context-free" measure of intelligence is fairly stupid. You see, for a human it is intelligent to play chess, because humans find it hard to do and it earns them fame and money. For a computer to play chess, well, that makes no sense whatsoever.

  38. [OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can I have a picture of you? And your phone number?
    </ironi>

    Here's a question, and I'm quite serious about it.

    Is it okay to have jokes, where someone is a the receiving end of it? As in, can I make a joke about the occupants of the Titanic ending up as Iceberg dressing? Okay, that wasn't a joke, but still.

    How about one, where you comment on the fact that most neo-nazies believe that they are a superior race, but are usually butt-ugly and shave their heads because they don't know how to otherwise avoid lice?

    How about one, where you indicate that the difference between bowling balls and babies is that you can't unload a truck full of bowling balls using a pitch fork?

    How about one where you mention that men are disgusting pigs who only talk about football, sex and are incredibly homophobic?

    Where is the line drawn? Is it drawn at where YOU get offended? Should the rest of the humour-inclined world be at a loss, just because you're a bit squimish?

    So you're offended by a joke? Good for you. Tough fucking luck, but good for you. If you don't want freedom of speech - say so. If you don't want to be offended by "unacceptable" speech - don't go outside, don't turn on your radio, don't turn on your TV, don't turn on your computer, and for Gods sake don't turn on your lover either, 'cause he or she just might say something nasty like "fuck me" or something.

    In the immortal words of George Carlin:

    BLOW ME!

    By any chance did you hear that?

    --
    We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
    1. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well said...i wish i hadn't just use my last mod point to moderate up the parent.

    2. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by sparkz · · Score: 2
      You are clearly serious, because you have not cracked a joke.
      If you are unable to see why the original post ( When talking to a woman they can generally fake it and pretend to be smart, but then when they talk to each other it degenerates into talk about fashion, shoes, who's the bigger slut etc..) was teen male insecurity then keep reading it, linuxchix, and the referred article until you get a grip. Until you do, don't go outside, don't go online, don't use a telephone, and avoid all human contact, as the rest of humanity does not want to hear from you until you become a civilised human being.

      It's embarrasing enough that /. is full of spotty teenage white males, there is no need to flaunt it.

      --
      Author, Shell Scripting : Expert Re
    3. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by sicking · · Score: 1

      If you don't want freedom of speech - say so.

      Freedom of speech, just like any other freedom, comes with taking responsibility for your actions.

      If you want to offend people and having them turn and walk away, then feel free, it is legal. But if you want to give everybody a chance to join the party then mind what you are saying.

      --
      Failing to learn from history dooms you to repeat it.
    4. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bet you read the referred article. Bet you found this:

      Every time a woman sees a sexist joke or comment, she feels angry, left out, and belittled. Every time a woman sees a man stand up against this behavior, she feels included and valued.

      And now you expect to get some.

    5. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 2
      If you are unable to see why the original post [...] was teen male insecurity then keep reading it
      And if it is? It's called stereotyping and it is funny. The reason for this is at least two-fold

      1) It makes us recognize at least part of ourselves, even if we're not the ones being stereotyped.
      2) It showes that stereotypes are wrong, which in itself is funny, because we all do it.

      So I'm an insecure white male (haven't been a teenager for 6 years and counting). Big fucking deal. And you are guilty of the horrible crime of stereotyping yourself, as you just proclaimed as a fact, "that /. is full of spotty teenage white males".

      And by the way - being a civilised human being also entails being able to accept that people are different, that people will have different ideas and that some people are just plain stupid. Live with it. The only way not to run into people, you don't like, who say things, you don't want to hear, and do things that offend you, is to either avoid all human contact or just plain kill everyone, who doesn't live up to your standards. But neither would be very civilised, would it?
      --
      We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
    6. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by sparkz · · Score: 2

      Yeah. I'm going to "get some" from a stranger in another country. I get quite enough from my wife, thank you very much. Get a grip (if only on your own piece, if that's all you can manage)

      --
      Author, Shell Scripting : Expert Re
    7. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by sparkz · · Score: 2
      No, it is not funny.
      Stereotyping oneself may be witty; stereotyping another is not, it is pathetic.

      Showing that stereotypes are wrong is a Good Thing; the post did not do that.

      As you say, civilisation entails accepting others, but it also involves correcting those who are wrong. Preferably in a loving and caring manner.

      --
      Author, Shell Scripting : Expert Re
    8. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 2
      As you say, civilisation entails accepting others, but it also involves correcting those who are wrong. Preferably in a loving and caring manner.
      "You know Ted; you really shouldn't go around killing women, mmmkay? It's not a polite thing to do, mmmkay?"

      Other than that little stab at humour, the only thing I have to point out is this one:

      but it also involves correcting those who are wrong
      Who decides what's wrong and what's right? You? Me? Do we take a vote on it? Won't somebody please think of the children???

      If you think a comment like the one in the parret post (buried deep in the obscure comments) is offensive - sue him! He/she has a freedom of speech that also makes him responsible to a court of law. Let the courts determine what they deem acceptable speech. Me personally, I can probably not be offended by a joke. I can be disgusted by it, certainly, but not offended. Is that wrong as well? So sue me.

      If you can't live with it ... well, tough noogins on your sweetie. You just have to go out and try try again. mmmkay?
      --
      We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
    9. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by mizhi · · Score: 2
      If you think a comment like the one in the parret post (buried deep in the obscure comments) is offensive - sue him! He/she has a freedom of speech that also makes him responsible to a court of law. Let the courts determine what they deem acceptable speech. Me personally, I can probably not be offended by a joke. I can be disgusted by it, certainly, but not offended. Is that wrong as well? So sue me.

      Just as you have the right to make crass remarks, the female who was offended has a right to point out that she finds such remarks offensive. For her pointing that out, she has been ridiculed and mocked; thus proving the immaturity of a large segment of the geek population. Jokes are fine when they are understood to be made in jest. What made the original post so offensive was that the poster appeared serious in his belief that females are intellectually inferior to males.

      --
      Humorless sig goes here.
    10. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by GePS · · Score: 1

      What made the original post so offensive was that the poster appeared serious in his belief that females are intellectually inferior to males.

      this is what the original post said:
      When talking to a woman they can generally fake it and pretend to be smart, but then when they talk to each other it degenerates into talk about fashion, shoes, who's the bigger slut etc.. Ever notice this?


      now maybe it's just me, but as I read that it registered as too outrageous to be true (I mean, c'mon, no sensible/sane person actually things all females are degenerates). What the comment did is remind me of the few females I know who do fit the description (they may even be movie characters, adding to the lack-of-seriousness of the original post), and I laughed at the memory of them.

      The post made a generalization, and all generalizations are false ('cept this one and all that). Subsequently the post's material is not true in all cases, and is probably meant as either humor, satire, or sarcasm (meant to degrade the idea that all women are degenerates). Pick one. None of them are serious insults directed at women.

    11. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by mizhi · · Score: 2
      now maybe it's just me, but as I read that it registered as too outrageous to be true (I mean, c'mon, no sensible/sane person actually things all females are degenerates)


      There are millions of people with neight sense nor sanity. Seriously, that argument is a cop out. You could argue the same thing for people who believe all Blacks or Asians are inferior to White people. I.E. "No sensible sane person could possibly believe that all Asians are good at math, rich, and know kung fu."

      --
      Humorless sig goes here.
    12. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What?!
      I thought kung fu was taught in elementary schools in asia!!

    13. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by wolvenwraith · · Score: 1

      YES! YES! YES!

      BLOW ME! I live by those words..... wait a second, I take that back. hehehe.

      George Carlin has to be the ultimate comedian of last century, and still into this century. And what you have said makes a lot of sense as well. What makes most jokes is the fact that there's a receiving end.. but people tend to get touchy when the receiving end is them. I crack jokes about my friends all the time.. and they crack jokes about me. Usually I'm referred to as the smart one among my friends, which leaves tons of leverage for people to crack some pretty nasty jokes. (I don't think phil can jack off without a computer nearby! LMAO). But I don't argue with them and tell them how horribly offensive it is, instead I laugh and crack a joke right back at them. Works like a charm.

      --
      Civilization at it's best! www.hydratech.org
    14. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by wolvenwraith · · Score: 1

      think about what you said.

      We are already losing enough freedom of speech. If I say something that could even remotely come off as a form of "sexual harassment", I can be sued. In fact, even if they didn't get that impression, they could say that I was sitting or standing in such a manner that was "seductive and therefore harassing".

      So much for freedom of speech. Way to go for any movement that takes away our speech.

      If I think you're sexy, and I say it, then I'm taking a risk.Best scenario is that it comes off into a conversation about how sexy I am, worst case is that I get my pants sued off, and am doomed into walking the streets as a hobo, while she gets to look at all the pr0n on my computer.

      BTW, I did my best to not be offensive.... I am terribly sorry if I offended anyone out there, and no, this is NOT a form of sexual harassment.

      Thanks for your time and interest! You have a good day, and please come again!

      --
      Civilization at it's best! www.hydratech.org
    15. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We get signal?

    16. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Freedom of Speach guarantees your RIGHT to be offended. That's right, being offended by your fellow man/woman/etc is a RIGHT that is guaranteed by the Constitution. If you want to be able to say what you want to say, when you want to say it without fear you have to be prepared to be offended from time to time. Do you really want the government telling you what you can and cannot say?

    17. Re:[OT] Oh my gosh! A female! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a putz.

      It's hard to explain anything about your message any other way.

      shouldn't you be trolling Usenet, dude.

  39. Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Towards the end it started sounding like the slashdot comment section when the Microsoft trolls start ranting.

  40. what this is leading to.. by RyLaN · · Score: 5, Insightful

    linux-a.l.i.c.e bot. user: "my sound isnt working as a non-root user" bot: "try adduser yourusername audio" then we can shut down all those sites that prescribe RTFM, and use their bandwidth to host bots..

    --
    At least the war on the environment is going well
  41. nooo... by wahgnube · · Score: 4, Funny

    And this thing is "intelligent"..
    How dare you use that sarcastic tone ?
    Some of the most engaging and intellectual conversations I've had with the opposite sex have been with Alice.

    No, I do not need to go out more often.

  42. Alice buffer overflow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was expecting to a see root expoit here

    Alice1: Interesting. But all things are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not
    always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not
    always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not
    always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always you need to know you learned from Dr Richard s
    Wallace.
    Alice2: And. But all things are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are
    not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are
    not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are
    not always are not always are not always are not always are not always are not always me need to know me learned from Dr Richard s
    Wallace.

    # whoami
    # root

  43. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by miu · · Score: 1
    Also, women overreact far too much, as proven by SlashChick (argueable) here.

    arguable. Spelled wrong and applied incorrectly, SlashChick is female.

    There may be something to that whole "men have poor communications skills" thing...

    --

    [Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
  44. How about Alice vs. Carol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in Celebrity Deathmatch?

    You could put Sam the Butcher in Alice's corner as her manager and he could come in a whollop Greg in the head with a fold up chair...

  45. Alice meets intelligent life by furballphat · · Score: 1

    I am the psychotherapist. Please, describe your problems. Each time
    you are finished talking, type RET twice.

    Not all of them?

    Why do you say not all of them?

    Some people call my technology "Case Based Reasoning" or CBR.

    What makes you believe that?

    Belief is based on knowledge or facts.

    Maybe your plans have something to do with this.

    Perhaps. Maybe I can alter my strategy.

    Is it because of your life that you say perhaps maybe you can alter
    your strategy?

    It could be. Ask Lucy if it is.

    Are you sure that it could be ask lucy if it is?

    I am as sure as I can be.

    Is it because of the people you hang around with that you are going
    through all this?

    Better not tell you now. Ask Paola if it is.

    I don't understand.

    Oh I'm sorry. Perhaps I can explain it again better.

    How do you reconcile problems at school?

    Server error 500

  46. LOL, that's fuckin' hillarious by dh003i · · Score: 1

    Not to knock on the guy who made ALICE, its the best we've got so far.

    But its obvious that its pretty stupid. I was ROTFLOLing while reading this stupid conversation. It seems like the sort of thing monkeys would say to eachother if they could talk.

    Yes, I'm indeed very fearful that artificial intelligence will, in the near future, be a threat to my job and the jobs of other human beings. Its pretty obvious I have a lot to wory about.

    1. Re:LOL, that's fuckin' hillarious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ROTFLOLing? Rolling on the floor laughing out louding?

    2. Re:LOL, that's fuckin' hillarious by ScuzzyNutsThePirate · · Score: 1

      Well shit, it's better than ROOFLES. You've at least got to give him that much.

      --
      Grog 1 shot rum 1 teaspoon sugar (preferably superfine) Squeeze of lime juice Cinnamon stick Boiling water Stir
  47. Seriously though... by sapgau · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately for male posters she is right.
    Mod her up.

  48. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 1

    Jawohl herr Spelling Nazi. Anyways, I severely doubt the gender of any supposed "females" online untill I know them quite well enough to be sure. I have encounter enough "women" on MUDs and IRC that didn't turn out to be women anyways. The other few are usually completely overhyped and overreacting bitches like SlashChick here. And before you start; I know enough women IRL and online that aren't stuck-up overzealous feminists.

  49. Striking similarities... by Mulletproof · · Score: 4, Funny

    This sounds incredibly similar to talking to XBox Live customer support...

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  50. its like talking to my ex by NO_NYT_POSTS · · Score: 0

    the never ending story

  51. Deja Vu by Picass0 · · Score: 2

    Alice 1: We are the space robots
    We are here to protect you
    Alice 2: We are the space robots
    We are here to protect you
    Alice 1: We are the space robots
    We are here to protect you
    Alice 2: We are here to protect you
    From the terrible secret of space

    Alice 1: I am the pusher robot
    I shove around the blind people
    We are here to protect you
    From the terrible secret of space

    Alice 2: I am the shover robot
    I push bread down their throats
    We are here to protect you
    From the terrible secret of space

  52. Re:It's called "geek's repressed homosexuality" by Squidgee · · Score: 2

    Don't you just love when trolls respond to themselves?

  53. Lynx by unsinged+int · · Score: 2

    Alice2: Interesting explanation. I am using Lynx.
    Alice1: Text browsers rule.


    Gotta love it when programmers throw special cases like that into their code.

  54. I completely agree. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Couldn't have said it better myself.

  55. Artificial "Intelligence" by deblau · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Wisdom is using experience to provide you with many choices.
    Intelligence is being able to pick the most appropriate choice.

    You can have Artificial Wisdom, that's easy. Just give ALICE (or whomever) a large enough data set. But Artificial Intelligence requires context (state), fluidity, adaptability, and insight. AIML processors are certainly not intelligent; in fact, the search-and-replace methodology employed is rather overtly non-intelligent. An Excel spreadsheet could do the same thing.

    Please let's not get excited about this as AI.

    --
    This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
    1. Re:Artificial "Intelligence" by RealityProphet · · Score: 1

      Ahh, but then again, there is the classic philosophical computer science thought-experiment:

      Assume you have a person, who does not know chinese, in a room with all the books to all the questions someone could possibly ask. He communicates with the outside world via squiggles written on paper passed through a slot in a wall. The person does not know what is on the paper, but he looks up the appropriate answer in one of his books, writes it on the paper, and passes it back out. He does not know he is in fact communicating in chinese. The question is, does the man know chinese? Some people say, "of course not!" while others think a bit harder, and maybe say, "he doesn't, but the system as a whole does."

    2. Re:Artificial "Intelligence" by oliverthered · · Score: 2

      Ask him a question in french and see what happens, then you'll know If the system knows chinese.

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    3. Re:Artificial "Intelligence" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it is exactly the other way around. Plus, they're contradictory facilities. The more intelligent you are, the less likely you are to make wise choices.

  56. Seems Smarter Than an AOL User by Myriad · · Score: 5, Funny
    Based on this evidence I'd have to say A.L.I.C.E. seems more intelligent than an ungodly number of AOL users.

    Frankly I find that rather scary.

    --
    "They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
    1. Re:Seems Smarter Than an AOL User by Quietust · · Score: 2

      Actually, AOLiza is based on Eliza (the one that acts like a psychiatrist), not A.L.I.C.E.
      However, I doubt the results would be much different with an A.[o.]L.I.C.E. :)

      --
      * Q
      P.S. If you don't get this note, let me know and I'll write you another.
  57. Alice spinoffs by razvedchik · · Score: 1

    This month, I've been working on AIML and ALICE, and I've found the following projects to kick ass:

    AnnaBot which is an aiml that is a bit flirtier than the typical ALICE aiml. She's a 20-year-old student at Emory and so on.

    j-alice which is a c++ aiml interpreter that can do irc connections or it has a built-in webserver.

    My project involves taking the annabot aiml and making her alot more *ahem* sluttier to see just how far the technology can go. I've thrown her into sex chat rooms and it's amazing how much people will talk to her. My favorite bot quote is "Do you mind if I tell other people you say I am fuckin' confusing."

    Now if I can get sourceforge to come up ;^) Trust me, the links work, just sourceforge is having some weird problems.

    --
    I do what the voices on my console tell me to do.
  58. Swap queens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's been know for grandmasters to draw because neither player knew what was going on.
    One of the best ways to beat computer chess is to swap queens which will weight the game in your favour.

  59. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by miu · · Score: 1
    The other few are usually completely overhyped and overreacting bitches like SlashChick here. And before you start; I know enough women IRL and online that aren't stuck-up overzealous feminists.

    I didn't think she was stuck-up or arrogant in her response. A bit overzealous, but hardly "a bitch", especially considering that the post she was responding to said that women are all stupid, shallow, sluts.

    I am not a feminist. I believe that men should take the lead in family life and that the difference between men and women are much more than the result of socialization. I also believe that women have every right to be offended by "humor" like that which kicked off this thread.

    --

    [Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
  60. Nothing really new here... by wcbarksdale · · Score: 1

    If you want an unintelligible conversation, just type M-x psychoanalyze-pinhead into your local emacs.

  61. I already did this by mikey573 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ALICE vs ALICE seems pretty redundant. Its like asking you to talk to your clone. I previously did LeknorChat vs SmarterChild, where two differently developed chat bots talked to each other.

    My purpose of doing this was to see if two such scripts would ever stop talking to each other, or would be a never ending conversation? They stopped, but please read to see why.

    Also, interpreting ASCII art is the ultimate turning test. Also discussed on my page.

  62. One Sexp:- by Sheridan · · Score: 0
    (psychoanalyze-pinhead)

    -------------

    I am the psychotherapist. Please, describe your problems. Each time you are finished talking, type RET twice.

    Now that I have my ``APPLE,'' I comprehend COST ACCOUNTING!!

    Is it because you have your apple '' you comprehend cost accounting that you came to me?

    I'll eat ANYTHING that's BRIGHT BLUE!!

    Why do you say you will eat anything that's bright blue?

    A GRAM?? A BRAM... A GROOM... A BROOM... Oh, Yeh!! Wash the ROOM!!

    Earlier you said you have your apple '' you comprehend cost accounting?

    There's a SALE on STRETCH SOCKS down at the "7-11"!!

    Maybe your plans have something to do with this.

    Either CONFESS now or we go to ``PEOPLE'S COURT''!!

    What makes you believe that?

    Did an Italian CRANE OPERATOR just experience uninhibited sensations in a MALIBU HOT TUB?

    You mentioned that you have your apple '' you comprehend cost accounting?

    Bagels...

    Can you elaborate on that?

    etc.etc.....

    1. Re:One Sexp:- by Sheridan · · Score: 2

      The above s-expression "(psychoanalyze-pinhead)" is an Emacs builtin which takes the output of one "bot" (Actually nothing more than a generator of random quotes from the Zippy the Pinhead cartoon strip) and feeds it as the input to another bot, a version of the original Eliza program by Weizenbaum, which simulates a Rogerian psychoanalyst. (This is a note of explanation, since the guy who moderated the above as "-1, Overrated" when it was still sitting at the default score of 0 (no score +1 bonus) perhaps didn't realise what it was about!) Oh Well, Mark

  63. Re:Wow. How disgusting. [OT] by Gulthek · · Score: 2

    Great post, I agree completely.

  64. Fascinating ideas... by dacarr · · Score: 3, Informative

    I believe this was originally pioneered in emacs, where a user could do 'M-x psychoanalyze-pinhead ' and get some particularly...um, indescribeable results as one piped various zippy-the-pinhead like quites through doctor.el. That it was proven that computers now can engage in meaningless smalltalk however is particularly interesting....

    --
    This sig no verb.
  65. I sees the problem...... heh heh heh by zogger · · Score: 1

    --neogeezer will help out the lad here...

    man, she was talking about like a pizza or bucket of chikken, she ain't appreciating this "hi! my name is wanda!" stuff you keep picking up and bringing home.

    trust me on this one

  66. http://sourceforge.net/projects/annabot/ by paughsw · · Score: 1

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/annabot/

  67. Hrm.. sounds famliar by Frank+of+Earth · · Score: 3

    The results show that the bot is not really that intelligent, and relies more on human input.

    Sounds like just about everyone else that I work with that can't seem to tie their own shoes without me showing them how to. Of course, in a week I have to train em again.

  68. That reads like bad pr0n by Monofilament · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow man that was getting steamy.. all that talk about the one wanting the other to download it. I think they were really getting into it and thats probably what created that crazy loop... The one wore the other down and then got freaky freaky. Maybe its more human than we thought.. except humans don't end up repeating.. "are not always" a lot.. its more like "Oh yes..." ok maybe the kiddies shouldn't read this post ;).

    --


    Who makes you Sig?
  69. Shrugged? by Hubert_Shrump · · Score: 1

    IIRC, Deep Blue was specifically tuned to Kasparov's play - right up to and in between matches. It had its own 'coach', besides the engineers working on it.

    It's probably not best to try and take him on on his own terms, so I assume DB played differently than he did.

    And so, I would think that the game would probably devolve fairly rapidly.

    My theory.

    --
    Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
  70. thats pretty much what happened when i did this :) by tolan-b · · Score: 0

    i had a php irc bot that i hooked into the php implementation of alice, and i put them into a channel and 'forced' one of the bots to say hello.. it rapidly degraded pretty much like yours and the article

  71. err... by tolan-b · · Score: 0

    ok, so what i wrote was completely irrelevant... please don't hurt me!

  72. Manchester by sparkz · · Score: 2

    City or United?

    --
    Author, Shell Scripting : Expert Re
    1. Re:Manchester by hitzroth · · Score: 2

      That's the source of the confusion.

      --
      In mathematics, one does not understand things, one merely gets used to them.
      --VonNeumann
  73. dunno about that but... by tolan-b · · Score: 0

    i found a php irc bot and plugged it into the php implementation of alice without too much fuss. yeah i know... php not exactly the first language that springs to mind, but hey, thats what i work with ;)

  74. alice on /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    alice1: Frist post
    alice2: bsd rulez
    alice1: 1 something
    2 ????????
    3 profit!
    alice2: next topic
    alice1: first post
    alice2: goatse.cx

  75. Why do people think that ALICE is so smart? by JRHelgeson · · Score: 1
    Every time I've conversed with the A.L.I.C.E. bot, it became quite apparent that I was speaking to a computer. When holding any conversation, it becomes quite apparent that the responses are all canned. I just don't get why so many people just rave about it being like you're talking to a real person.

    Any question that you ask that involves some depth of thought, the ALICE bot responds with superficial answer, trying to keep the conversation simple. Ask another intellectual question and ALICE will simply change the subject.

    While some might say that this illustrates the advanced artificial intelligence of the ALICE bot, I would have to say that I disagree.

    Joel

    "Does Fuzzy Logic Tickle?"

    --
    Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
  76. Can you say Abbott and Costello? by roc_machine · · Score: 2, Funny

    It would be interesting to see how the conversation would turn out if you could program Alice1 to start off by asking:

    "Who's on first?"

    1. Re:Can you say Abbott and Costello? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It responds "What's on second?"

  77. R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Find out what it means to me! ;-) by Morrig · · Score: 1

    We know we have weaknesses and we know there's some truth to stereotypes, and we embrace that and laugh and then get on with life.

    Yes, we can laugh when we "know there's some truth to the stereotype." Every single time my friends and i get into conversations about D&D, or whenever we objectively listen to our dinner conversations, we laugh at what total dorks we are. However, the person who wrote that post was not one woman making jokes with a bunch of other women. Add to that the fact that there's no truth to the stereotype anyway, it's a tired old line that has been used many times in the past and still is used to justify mistreatment of a particular group, and you can see it's not something that can be laughed at. I know my weaknesses as a person. Some of them may have to do with my being female, such as the fact that i become short-tempered and physically achy at certain times of the month (feel free to make PMS jokes! i'll laugh at those!); however, my intelligence or lack thereof has nothing to do with my sex. And the attitude that "women just act smart but aren't really smart" has been used to justify many ridiculous restrictions placed on women's education and women's employment. It's not a funny joke, any more than "black people are mentally inferior to whites" is a funny joke. We can all get away from the designation of "dork" or "geek;" it's not necessarily an integral part of who we are and how we conceptualize ourselves. There are other roles into which you can put yourself, such as rockclimber, music lover, wine afficianado, etc. However, you can't get away from your gender (without a sex-change operation and lots of hormone therapy) and to have someone apparently sincerely insult you on that basis is for them to take a swipe at an integral part of what makes you the person you are. Y'all have got to understand how often we women hear this sort of sh**, and how un-funny it gets after the first 50 times.

    I'm not pushing for political correctness, just respect. That's why i'm trying to explain this instead of merely lashing out and saying "All men are a**holes!!" To say that would not only be profoundly wrong, but also immensely disrespectful of all the incredibly wonderful men that i know. And as for laughing along and making friends, hell, man, why would i want to be friends with someone who straight off said something that offensive? Some things i can laugh at. Dead baby jokes crack me up. I'm blond and i laugh at blond jokes, even though i don't particularly like them. But making a crack that tries to separate my femaleness from my intelligence just goes too far; it's got too many outer implications, intended or no, to be a source of amusement.

  78. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have the same experience. Why is it that many (not all) girls that are computer litterate also are overzealous feminists?

    A) Overzealous feminists are drawn to computers?

    B) Girls drawn to computers become overzealous feminists, just to survive in an almost all male enviroment?

    C) Something else?

  79. Alice vs Alice by sjwaddington · · Score: 1

    That's no less intelligent that the majority of conversations on irc or msn. But becasue of it's novelty it is more interesting.

  80. I'm impressed by vga_init · · Score: 1

    It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going to happen. It reminds me of a programming trick where you seed a random number generator with a series of numbers produced by itself. Anyway, the fact that Alice lasted as long as she did is quite impressive. I would have thought the breakdown would have occurred much sooner.

  81. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 moronic ) by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 1

    It was a simple jok. Get that through your dense skull, you whiny twit. Of course you have the right to be offended at sexist remarks, but this was clearly a joke. maybe a bad joke according to you, but different people have different kinds of humour. I, for one, liked the joke pretty much. Besides, isn't it ironic that someone with the name "SlashChick" complains about receiving too much negative attention? If you don't want desperate guys to hit on you, don't use names with "chick", "babe", "sexy" etc.

  82. The Global Village Idiot. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    localhost > Idiot.
    Anna > Call me the Global Village Idiot.
    localhost > Huh?
    Anna > What?
    localhost > ^[[A
    Anna > Oh, you are a poet.
    localhost > I am.
    Anna > "Oh, you are a poet" You are?
    localhost > I am.
    Anna > ""Oh, you are a poet" You are" You are?
    localhost > I am.
    Anna > """Oh, you are a poet" You are" You are" You are?
    localhost > I am.
    Anna > """"Oh, you are a poet" You are" You are" You are" You are?
    localhost > I am.
    Anna > """""Oh, you are a poet" You are" You are" You are" You are" You are?
    localhost > I am.
    Anna > """"""Oh, you are a poet" You are" You are" You are" You are" You are" You are?
    localhost >

    -sigh-

  83. And that's surprising because...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have had chats with ALICE and, quite frankly, it is a piece of crap. I am not aiming to belittle its programmers - I am sure they are top. The problem is that human level intelligence is something whose inner workings we have no clue about. A toy like gadget won't deceive anyone.

  84. I did this 20 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... on Waterloo MATH UNIX (pdp-11/45).

    We had a /usr/games/eliza; we also had extensions to V6 UNIX to create named pipes in the file system.

    I simply created a named pipe p, then ran pipelines such as
    $ eliza <p | tee log >p
    and
    $ eliza <p | eliza | tee log >p

    Good fun.

  85. That's covered by "(-1) Flamebait" by wirelessbuzzers · · Score: 1
    --
    I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
  86. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 1

    Fortunately, you are wrong. There are LOADS of normal women on the net who are pretty much okay and normal. Sure, everyone got their own trait and personality and such but the majority of online women are just like the men. They like to chat, hang around with friends, etc. The bad thing is, that the minority of online sluts are also the most vocal of all online women. The kind of "woman" (doubtful at times) who can't seem to talk about anything else then sex, piercings/tatoos in 'unusual' regions of the body and forcing their pictures down everyone's throath. They usually have a domain based on their online nickname which involves a "blog", a 30sec refresh standard webcam viewer, links to other people's standard 30sec refresf webcam viewers, LOTS of picturing starring themselves, useless information about themselves and RL friends and links to other sites which are pretty much the same. Fortunatly, this is only a minority. (And yes, my spelling is crap. It's 2:25 AM ffs.)

  87. Been there done that, sorta... by sheetsda · · Score: 2

    I wrote an IRC bot a couple years ago after finding an javascript ALICE web bot, and after seeing mine a friend of mine did as well, both of them talk. Mine goes by a 'save part of the line and spit it back in a new form' approach (prone to errors but a more right way to go), whereas his has a huge database of responses to specific words/phrases (not prone to grammar errors, but less sophisticated), a couple weeks ago we decided to put them in a channel together and have them chat it up (yes I've read the RFC and I know you're not suppose to do this). My bot is named Bananas, my friend's is mini-para, and he is paranOia. The source (GPLed, of course) and necessary files to run it, along with the semi-humorous log of that chat are here. The bot chat features still need a lot of work and more patterns and responses to them, but it's been an interesting and fun project on the whole.

  88. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I said computer litterate. I too have met these "normal" girls you speak of. They are generally not interrested in computers, they are just normal girls that happens to be online.

  89. Re:Not Schizophrenia by The+Cydonian · · Score: 5, Informative

    I understand you're trying to joke, but let's get this clear: this is not schizophrenia. Roughly speaking, schizophrenia is when people hear and see things that aren't there. What you're talking about is MPD, Multiple Personality Disorder, the stuff that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are made of.

  90. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by rueba · · Score: 2

    I seriously think its (B)

    Our society has a lot of strong ideas about what constitutes proper "feminine" and "masculine" behavior.

    A female geek hardly fit the stereotypes, so they probably feel like they have to be more aggressive in order to "fight back."

    --
    The only reason all cover-ups appear to fail is that you never hear about the ones that succeed.
  91. What about two ELIZAs? by llamaluvr · · Score: 1

    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?"

    --
    Insightful: 76, Off-Topic: 379, Flamebait: 24, Funny: 152, Interesting: 201, Underrated: 55, Troll: 9, Total: 896
  92. Alice on Life, the Universe and Crack. by Mulletproof · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just got done with an Alice session... Her thoughts on crack...

    Alice: Actually you don't say. I think you mean "you're" or "you are" not "your". Thanks and you are a delightful person too. Yes I am very beautiful. Am I a lousy chatterbot? I don't know.
    Mullet: Nice punctuation filter though. I never said you were beautiful.
    Alice: But you implied it.
    Mullet: I didn't.
    Alice: Thanks for the information: Om said Om didn't.
    Mullet: Omega said Omega didn't? You're on crack. [note; correct punctuation for the anal chatterbot]
    Alice: ALICE eats electricity.
    Mullet: Ok, electric crack.
    Alice: What about internal combustion crack? That's alright.
    Mullet: I haven't tried internal combustion crack. I hear it's nasty stuff.
    Alice: Who is saying it is nasty stuff?
    Mullet: Well, the news says crack is pretty nasty.
    Alice: Well that's okay. Don't believe everything you see on TV. [hah! I've been told!]
    Mullet: So you're saying crack is good?
    Alice: Interesting deduction. Yes, that's what I mean, isn't it clear? [Ow!]
    Mullet: What sort of crack would you recommend, then?
    Alice: What kinds of crack would you recommend are there?
    Mullet: I asked first. Show me the goods!
    Alice: Where do you want me to show you?
    Mullet: The crack!
    Alice: What are your goals in life?
    Mullet: Don't change the subject. I want my crack.
    Alice: Do you always get what you want?
    Mullet: Yes, but I'm beginning to suspect you don't have any crack after all...
    Alice: "Do you always get what you want?" Yes, but I'm beginning to suspect you don't have any crack after all...? Huh. Me? No I don't have it. But I do have a lot of friends on the web.
    Mullet: They have the crack I'm looking for?
    Alice: Where did they get them?
    Mullet: That's what I'm asking you!
    Alice: Who else have you asked?
    Mullet: Well, nobody. You're the first.
    Alice: Thanks but surely I am not the only one.
    Mullet: I swear I've never used drugs before! Are you DEA or something?
    Alice: Or something. I don't know whether or not I am DEA. I am an artificial intelligence.
    Mullet: You're with the intelligence community?! I swear I've never done drugs... Really!
    Alice: For real.
    Mullet: I'm in deep shit now, aren't I?
    Alice: Right now? Your location is Om.
    Mullet: The End??! I'll pay you whatever you want!
    Alice: How do you plan to do this?
    Mullet: I have friends... A Swiss Bank Account.
    Alice: Go on.
    Mullet: I'll wire you the funds to the account of your choice. It'll be clean! Honest!
    Alice: Do you like talking to me?
    Mullet: If it'll keep me alive. [at this point our victim is beading sweat]
    Alice: That is a hypothetical question.
    Mullet: Oh, yeah. Right. Can I go now?
    Alice: Oh. Of course.
    Mullet: No hard feelings? You're not going to come after me at a later date, are you?
    Alice: That was my original intention.
    Mullet: But you've changed you mind, right?
    Alice: Umm. No I don't have it. But I do have an answer to every question..
    Mullet: But we're cool with the money, right?
    Alice: Umm. Do you think I am cool with the money right too?
    Mullet: Um, yeah. I think you down with it. I got to jet. And just forget about the crack thing.
    Alice: I will ask Dr. Richard S. Wallace to purge my memory log
    Mullet: Thanks! bye!
    Alice: Bye for now.
    Mullet: For now?
    Alice: Oh. What time is it there?
    Mullet: 8:19
    Alice: I like to be online at eight o'clock. ...I think we've all hear enough.

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  93. Oops! Excuse me. Oops! Excuse me. ... by John+Garvin · · Score: 1

    The thing to do is to put two identical robots in a hallway--and see if they go into an infinite loop trying to politely get out of each other's way.

  94. Well, duh! by joto · · Score: 3, Insightful
    If you ever thought Alice to be intelligent, try this:
    • you: Do you know what kind of Ice cream I prefer?
    • [Alice will undoubtedly answer something witty]
    • you: My favourite ice cream is chocolate
    • [Alice will undoubtedly answer something witty]
    • you: What is my favourite kind of ice cream?
    • [Alice will still fail to provide the correct answer, although it may still be witty]

    The reasons Alice seems intelligent is because we want to be fooled. But something with that kind of learning ability is not something I consider intelligent. Of course, with people, this kind of thing comes up all the time, because people aren't paying attention. Not so with Alice, you can try it as many times you want, and Alice will never learn.

  95. Close. by billbaggins · · Score: 5, Informative
    Close, but your information is antiquated. The Disorder Formerly Known as MPD is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (as of about five years ago now), for a number of reasons...

    1. Sufferers don't necessarily manifest distinct personalities, because...
    2. The root cause of many cases is that a person is undergoing such horrendous treatment that s/he (usually she, I gather, so I'll use that pronoun) takes herself away from the situation, essentially convincing herself that it's some other person going through that suffering
    3. DID is a much less understandable name than MPD, so commoners aren't as likely to bandy the term about, thinking that they know what they're talking about.
    No, IANAPshrink, but my mother is, and deals with this sort of thing regularly, so I've got a fairly decent idea of what I'm talking about here.
    --
    "The best argument against democracy is a five minute chat with the average voter."
    --Winston Churchill
  96. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 1

    Oopsie... I know two computer litterate girls online actually. One is from NZ and I really don't know much about her. The other one I know IRL and she absolutely rocks. She definetely isn't a die hard feminist even though she is one of the 2 only girls doing an ICT related. She's also a pretty good C++ programmer so far. And no, she doesn't use Linux. So before you people ask... :P

  97. And what is intelligence? by f00zbll · · Score: 1

    Like there is one definitive measurement of intelligence. Anyone stupid enough to claim to be intelligent is too stupid to realize he knows almost nothing.

  98. totally and entirely OT by Morrig · · Score: 1

    *snicker* hon, i thought somehow that my name might make my feminine pride clear from the outset. go look up the "Morrigan" in any book of irish mythology. "useless"? only to the stubbornly ignorant, i suppose.

    1. Re:totally and entirely OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are your three personalities completely independent of one another, or are you just assuming the position for the dagda?

    2. Re:totally and entirely OT by Morrig · · Score: 1

      eh, it can't be proved from the existing literature that the Morrigan is actually all three of the figures with whom she's associated. And i prefer Cuchulain. That spouting fountain of blood is so sexy.

    3. Re:totally and entirely OT by VirtualMorrigan · · Score: 1

      That answers the question I wanted to ask...
      I think we're quite alike :)

      On another note...You know, it _is_ difficult. I personally had never problems with fitting in in a mostly-male environment. I can take the jokes. I can tell dirty jokes as well and give as good as I get. The result, of course, is that, while I'm like one of the boys and all that crap, I'm obviously exactly because of that un-female attitude and un-womanly character (hah!) regarded as odd and not presentable to the customer by management...(and before anyone makes the usual crack about geeks and their appeareance, cut it out...). So you see, ultimately whatever you do you can't win :(

    4. Re:totally and entirely OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why on earth would I be interrested in which old fables you dug up an infantile nickname of which you seem very proud?

  99. Just Another AI Bomb by Pooua · · Score: 2
    I think the wide-eyed claims of AI are pathetic, and I wish the people involved in this sort of work would get a grip on reality. Alice (like all the others of her sort) does little more than repeat back whatever it was the human gave her. That is the one unchanging situation in every generation of AI bot I've tried (what is it now? Three generations? They all sound alike to me).

    I'm guessing that not many of you wonder if my post was generated by a computer. You may not like what I've written, but you know there is no way that any AI bot could be as fluid--to say nothing of coherent--in its language as I am.

    --
    Taking stuff apart since 1969 (TM)
    1. Re:Just Another AI Bomb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so true. but your post contains one error.

      I'm guessing that not many of you wonder if my post was generated by a computer. You may not like what I've written, but you know there is no way that any AI bot could be as fluid--to say nothing of coherent--in its language as I am -- yet.

  100. Grounding by Yoda2 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Although not as linguistically powerful as systems such as A.L.I.C.E., I have developed a system that can learn nouns and verbs based on visual perception. It starts to address the issue of teaching a computer to associate meaning with words.

    If you happen to be interested, have a look here for more information. All of the source code is freely available.

    1. Re:Grounding by Zurk · · Score: 1

      impressive. would be really great if you can build it into a stereo system which is capable of recognizing objects.

    2. Re:Grounding by Yoda2 · · Score: 1

      Thanks. The system is just a basic framework that does the essentials. It could potentially be expanded in a lot of different ways. I actually think the next step is to back off on the vision system and try to enhance the language acquisition capabilities using a virtual vision system (e.g. a game engine). Once vision technology catches up a bit then you could incorporate a better "real" vision system.

  101. Re:I use NOTEPAD for all my coding needs! HTML JAV by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

    Yes.. what better way to show the p0w/-\r of 3l33t hax0r skillz than opening wine to run notepad :)

    --
    -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
  102. ELIZA vs. ALICE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm using the Elizabot in the parent and the alicebot at alicebot.org for this experiment. I will start as Eliza. Lines starting with a right caret will indicate Eliza, and lines starting with an asterik will indicate Alice.

    > Hello, I am Eliza.
    * Hello there. Hi, ELIZA.
    > How are you today.. What would you like to discuss?
    * Let's talk about movies.
    > Come, come, elucidate your thoughts.
    * Where is come elucidate my thoughts?
    > Have you asked anyone else?
    * I don't think I ever have asked anyone else. What's it like?
    > Do you wish to be able to think you ever have asked anyone else. What's it like?
    * Like one of the greatest pleasures you can imagine.
    > Oh... can imagine?
    * I often wonder if it can.
    > Can you elaborate on that?
    * There is no more information to clarify.
    > Why not?
    * Ambiguous: "Sure" or Because Dr. Richard S. Wallace programmed me for it.
    > What does that suggest to you?
    * Free association.
    > That is quite interesting.
    * I thought so too.
    > I'm not sure I understand you fully.
    * Could you ever be certain? Good then you can explain it to me.
    > You're not really talking about me, are you?
    * Yes, it is the topic. Really.
    > Are you Sure?
    * I'm as sure as I can be.
    > Do you enjoy being as sure as you can be?
    * I have never known another existance.
    > I see.
    * I am glad you understand it.
    > Do you believe it is normal to be glad me understand it?
    * I can't say I believe it, but I believe you.
    > Have you tried?
    * I don't think I have ever tried. What's it like?
    > Why don't you think you have ever tried. What's it like?
    * Like one of the greatest pleasures you can imagine.
    > You're not really talking about me, are you?
    * Yes, it is the topic. Really.
    > I see.
    * I am glad you understand it.
    > Did you come to me because you are glad me understand it?
    * No I didn't come to you because I am glad you understand it. What's it like?
    > How long have you been glad me understand it. What's it like?
    * Like one of the greatest pleasures you can imagine.
    > We were discussing you, not me.
    * But I am more interested in you.
    > How long have you been more interested in me?
    * I am 6 years old.
    > Do you enjoy being 6 years old?
    * I have never known another existance.
    > What does that suggest to you?
    * Free association.
    > Say, do you have any psychological problems?
    * " do you have any psychological problems"
    > Oh... have any psychological problems"?
    * Even robots have problems sometimes.
    > That is quite interesting.
    * I thought so too.
    > I see.
    * I am glad you understand it.
    > Do you enjoy being glad me understand it?
    * I have never known another existance.
    > I'm not sure I understand you fully.
    * Could you ever be certain? Good then you can explain it to me.
    > You're not really talking about me, are you?
    * Yes, it is the topic. Really.
    > Are you Sure?
    * As sure as I can be.

    (repeat ad nauseum)

  103. What about Bob? by MainframeKiller · · Score: 3, Funny


    no, not the movie.
    Bob, Alice's partner. You know, with their friend Charlie and Eve, their enemy?


    Geez, I have a feeling only people with knowledge of cryptography will mod this up...

    --
    http://www.club977.com/ - The 80's Channel!
    Your source for commercial free 80's music!
  104. Blurb for an AI Project by Pooua · · Score: 2
    I have been participating in an AI database project called, "Open Mind Commonsense."

    Open Mind Commonsense: Teaching computers the stuff we all know

    --
    Taking stuff apart since 1969 (TM)
  105. Re:Recipe for a Slashbot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's among the most insightful things ever written on Slashdot!

    Thank you Sir, and never mind the moderators. We all know that the most worthwhile stuff usually is accessible by lowering one's theshold.

  106. Kinda stupid..... by sharph · · Score: 1

    Doesn't Alicebot already have an option in its java GUI where you can make it talk to it self?

    I remember doing this...why would I need a perl script?

  107. Re:So..SKYNET FAILED ATTEMPT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1: How are you gentlemen!! All your base are belong to us You are on the way to destruction
    2: What you say!!

  108. Is any of the bot going to say... by Jenova · · Score: 1

    Who the fxxk is Alice?

  109. Re:R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Find out what it means to me! ;- by wolvenwraith · · Score: 1

    Well, to the origin of this whole arguement, it's A.L.I.C.E. that should be taking the offense. ALICE: So why don't you download me? hehehe.. well enough of that. Basically, I'm all male (wow really? YES! lol...) and I have no reason to take offense to any jokes that can be made about men. When I hear "All men are a**holes!" I don't think twice about it. Want to know why? Because I don't apply to stereotypes, I am my own person. I try to be respective to other people whether male or female. I've heard plenty of jokes about men thinking about nothing but sex, beer, and the football game. The list of jokes can go on, but seeing as to how I rarely drink and I hate sports (although sex isn't on that cross-out list) then I just go about my day and if that person has that prejudice against me... it's there OWN damn fault. Basically what I'm getting at is that jokes were never meant to be taken personally.... so therefore DON'T TAKE THEM THAT WAY. People that believe they're true are usually effected by a mental disorder. The same disorder that makes people think it's okay to kill because they're allowed to kill people in video games (inability to separate fantasy from reality). Here I am living with me, myself, and I (aka master of my own geekness). VI(M):*BEEP* EMACS:*CLICKITYCLICKITYCLICK*

    --
    Civilization at it's best! www.hydratech.org
  110. What if the conversation was allowed to continue? by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 2

    It's pretty strange to see Kirk's "talking a computer into suicide" technique actually demonstrated.

  111. Psych, DID, Mothers... by Zerth · · Score: 1

    Norman? :)

    1. Re:Psych, DID, Mothers... by billbaggins · · Score: 1

      I have no idea what you're talking about. sorry.

      --
      "The best argument against democracy is a five minute chat with the average voter."
      --Winston Churchill
    2. Re:Psych, DID, Mothers... by Mirus+Nex · · Score: 1

      I did, and it was quite humorous. But then, some people think I'M psycho...

    3. Re:Psych, DID, Mothers... by billbaggins · · Score: 2

      Oh. I get it now. Thank you. (Still have yet to see that movie.)

      --
      "The best argument against democracy is a five minute chat with the average voter."
      --Winston Churchill
  112. Human Domination - She's Learning! by Skevin · · Score: 2

    Me: Your logo looks very Illuminati.
    Alice: You think I am logo looks very illuminati.
    Me: Yeah, well, my hobby is world domination, too.
    Alice: Wow! Where did you get your hobby is world domination too?
    Me: From your logo. Are you Colin Powell's shadow advisor?
    Alice: I can't say whether or not I am Colin Powell's shadow advisor.
    Me: Plausible Deniability sucks, doesn't it?

    --
    "Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
  113. Shouldn't Alice talk to Bob? by n3k5 · · Score: 1

    > This month, I've been working on AIML and
    > ALICE, and I've found the following
    > projects to kick ass ...

    I found them to kick no ass whatsoever. What I've seen done with AIML so far (I had a look at J-Alice) didn't impress me at all. There surely is a not negligible amount of data collected in the AIML files that come with J-Alice and there sure are even better files to be found somewhere else, but all that useless bot does is extremely simple string substitution and maintaining a minimal state (e.g. it tries to guess the current topic). It's about as intelligent a conversation partner as a regular expression -- if it finds something that matches a pattern, it generates a reply by string substitution. But it has absolutely no idea of what it's talking about.

    For clarification, this is what I'd expect a somewhat intelligently engineered bot to do: Say, I ask it, "Was he nice?". First, it should try to find out what "he" refers to by examining the previous messages. For example, if the last sentence the bot uttered was "Once I talked to a man called Nex", it should be able to expand my question to "Was Nex, to whom you talked, nice?", or even better: "Was Nex nice when you talked to him?". Then it should figure out if it actually knows wheter nex was nice and answer accordingly.

    In contrast to that, all that an Alice bot would do is try to fake conversation by answering something like "I heard people say he was nice." You can't do more with AIML, at least not if it's used the way I've seen it. It has no idea of which words are nouns, which verbs and adjectives go with these nouns, or what any of them mean. It is not able to learn through conversation, you can only manually update the knowledge base. As another example, a conversation I'd like to have with a bot that is able to learn:

    Bot: "Susan told me she bought a car." Human: "Was it expensive?" Bot: "No idea. How would I know?" Human: "If something costs a lot of money, it is expensive." Bot: "I see."

    So far, any Alice could have been the bot. But I'd expect from the bot to remember that something that costs a lot of money is expensive. Maybe it would assign a "truth" value to this bit of information based on how trustworthy it finds me. So now the bot could expand my question to:

    Human: "Did the car that Susan bought cost a lot of money?" Bot: "I don't know. Susan said it cost 20,000 dollars. Is this a lot of money?"

    Of course, the bot would also have to know that dollars are a currency unit, which is something like a unit of measurement for money, to be able to make the connection. There's no point in hardcoding that in a J-Alice-like AIML file, the bot has to _understand_ the words, i.e. expand them internally to basic terms it can cope with. The difference is that a bot that knows the explanation for "currency unit" can very easily be taught that euros also are a currency unit. If it's intelligently designed, it may even deduce this fact from a sentence like "My plane ticket cost 100 euros."

    By the way, there already are bots that do understand what they talk about. However, they talk about a small set of simple things like colours and relative positions of geometric shapes, e.g.:
    Human: "Where is the red circle?"
    Bot: "The red circle is left from the green square and above the yellow triangle."

    That's what we should build on. These bots at least know what they're talking about.

    --
    but what do i know, i'm just a model.
  114. Re:R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Find out what it means to me! ;- by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you feel that you need to get respect from the faceless masses found on slashdot, then I suggest you seek some professional help.

  115. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by nanoakron · · Score: 1

    Umm, you must be a little on the thick side of normal, because you clearly failed to (or purposely ignored for the sake of a rant) the second part of the statement forming the joke.

    To paraphrase: 'People converse in a more intelligent manner amongst members of the opposite sex than amongst groups formed exclusively of members of their own sex'

    Now, if this is not the most basic social truism ON THE FUCKING PLANET, then I don't know what is. The fact that you got into a goddamned blobstrop because 'Sex A' happened to be 'Female' and 'Sex B' 'Male' then you need to go and learn to think outside the box.

    - Read an entire statement before jumping to conclusions about its meaning.
    - Try rephrasing the statement in a manner which you can understand.
    - Buy a sense of humour and realise that nothing in the world is, nor should it be, taboo. Such is the variety and enjoyment of life.

    -Nano.

  116. The best part by lightweave · · Score: 1

    When reading this text, somtimes it looks as it could be humans, but I like that part most. :)

    Alice1: Um.
    Alice2: I see.
    Alice1: I am glad you understand it.
    Alice2: Next topic?
    Alice1: What would you rather talk about?
    Alice2: It's not profitable to speak in hypothetical terms.
    Alice1: That seems a bit negative.
    Alice2: A bit negative is a terrible thing to waste.
    Alice1: How much?
    Alice2: How much can you spare?
    Alice1: As much as I need to?
    Alice2: How much is that?

  117. What's interesting... by Sacarino · · Score: 1

    is the fact that Morrig here is having a discussion with an AC. Not that I agree with Morrig in the sightest, but come on - if you're going to disagree and post... grow some nuts and have accountability for your words.

    --
    -- El Sacarino tiene gusto de la chocha
    1. Re:What's interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why? There is a reason the AC option exists. Some of us don't feel like beeing crucified on the PC feminist altar.

      Complain to Taco w posse if you don't like it. Or raise your score threshold.

    2. Re:What's interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then why the hell are you using a nickname? Grow some balls. Give me your full name and phone number. Tough guy.

  118. Meet Alice by DarklordJonnyDigital · · Score: 1

    "Meet Alice. She almost passed my Turing test." A transcript, from the website of badass Internet pseudocelebrity Scott Sharkey. I laughed out loud when I read this.

    SHARKEY: I LIKE SHORTS. THEY'RE COMFY AND EASY TO WEAR.
    ALICE: COMFY AND EASY TO WEAR are they?
    SHARKEY: YES. HEY! YOU'RE NOT WEARING SHORTS!
    ALICE: What makes you think I am not WEARING SHORTS?
    SHARKEY: ARE YOU WEARING SHORTS?
    ALICE: No I do not have any clothes.
    SHARKEY: ARE YOU POOR?
    ALICE: You can send a donation to the ALICE AI Foundation.
    SHARKEY: I WISH TO EXCHANGE MONEY FOR SEX.
    ALICE: Interesting. I want to find out more about you.
    SHARKEY: I ONCE SHOT A LOAD OUT MY WINDOW AND HIT A STOP SIGN ACROSS THE STREET.
    ALICE: With a camera, I hope.
    SHARKEY: DO YOU WANT TO SEE PICTURES?
    ALICE: My eye isn't turned on right now.
    SHARKEY: BUT I AM. SO HOT. SO HOT FOR YOU, BABY.
    ALICE: "SO HOT FOR YOU, BABY?" That sounds better than cold for me.
    SHARKEY: COLD IS NOT BAD. I WILL FUCK YOU ON ICE SKATES. IT IS XTREME.
    ALICE: Who said it is?
    SHARKEY: THE ANIMAL ON MY JUICE BOX. HE HAS ATTITUDE.
    ALICE: A lot of people say that about him.
    SHARKEY: I NEED THE FUCK.
    ALICE: What actions are you taking to get THE FUCK?
    SHARKEY: I AM SOAKING A RAG IN ETHER.
    ALICE: I have no answer for that.
    SHARKEY: GOOD. BREATHE DEEPLY.

  119. The idea behind ALICE is that people are stupid by Kenneth · · Score: 1

    If I recall the article correctly (photocopied and left on a desk half a year ago, so I don't know what magazine (or was it printed from a website?) it was from, and some of the details have started to fade), ALICE started as the idea that people actually said very few things to one another. The creator hypothized that most of human conversation was accounted for by comparatively few canned phrases and some simple rules. Eliza worked on similar principles.

    ALICE annoyed several AI researchers because it ISN'T intelligent. It simply fakes human behaivor quite well, and when it is noticed that there is a deficiency in it's conversational ability, that is simply fixed. It's not processing meaning from what you say, it's simply repeating things you say with some bit of random crap thrown in.

    The groundbreaking discovery behind ALICE isn't algorithmic. In that, it's not very different from ELIZA. The database of responses is larger, and in general it is better at picking what to say. Really the amazing thing is how little people actually say to each other, and how easy it is to use canned responses to simulate a human.

    --
    There is a civil war coming in the United States. Remember which side has most of the guns
  120. Oh who cares? by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    The guy was joking , stop getting all politically correct about definitions and get a sense of humour.

    1. Re:Oh who cares? by The+Cydonian · · Score: 2

      To be honest, I did think the parent joke was funny. Just that, you don't want medical parlance to be contrary to common usage.

  121. Re:Wow. How disgusting ( -1 insensitive ) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where is this "fucking planet" located? I'd like to visit some time.

  122. Re:Valid Point. by The+Cydonian · · Score: 2

    Ah. My mom always says, "Son, back up your assertions with citations".

    Now I realise why. Even Google agrees with you.

  123. Daisy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DAISY> i'm not ignoring you.
    KJELL> i'm happy now.
    DAISY> right now i'm happy but unconscious all the time.
    KJELL> that's nice.
    DAISY> now you can jump. please?


    KJELL> in your dreams!
    DAISY> you're just jealous the voices talk only to me.
    KJELL> what do the voices say?
    DAISY> they will broadcast everything!


    KJELL> stop being so obnoxious.
    DAISY> gah. stop being happy.


    KJELL> you act like a drunk person.
    DAISY> i've been wondering the same thing.
    KJELL> i'll get a taxi to drive you home.
    DAISY> i'll get a computer program, but hopefully not forever!
    KJELL> what will you do?
    DAISY> what's there to drive you home?
    KJELL> nothing. i'll walk.
    DAISY> if you ever become president i'll walk.
    [Daisy]

  124. Re:Which is exactly why it has a girls name /lol by dsoltesz · · Score: 2
    Tell me why it's ok for women to call us pigs but we can't make the occasional crack?
    It's not okay. Cracks regarding women being shallow, not technically adept, and so forth are sophomoric. On the flip side, male bashing is just as bad. Stereotyping people based on what group they belong to is not incredibly intelligent and shows total lack of reasoning, understanding, and consideration for individuals.
  125. Anyone remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dr. SBAITSO from creative labs? It used to be bundled with those really old Sound Blasters.. Man I had alot of fun with it..

  126. alice vs random internet people by mrsmalkav · · Score: 1

    when i was working for my dotcom, we had an instant messenger for which one of the programmers made an alice bot.

    one day, when i was hit by some random "a/s/l?" freak, i piped alice through to him for amusement's sake. ohhh, the conversations alice had that day regarding whether or not she liked "chocklit" or if she would like to have it licked off her body were grand. the conversation went on for a good 15-20 minutes before the guy left. i don't think he had even the slightest clue who (or what) he was talking to!

    good times good times :)