Slashdot Mirror
Ask the Robotic Psychiatrist
No, not Dr. Susan Calvin. She's a fictional character who appears in a number of Isaac Asimov's works. Dr. Joanne Pransky is real, although she happily admits that she's modeled her career on the fictional Dr. Calvin. There is plenty of show biz razzle-dazzle (and humor) in Dr. Pransky's shtick -- she's been a judge on BattleBots and an engaging guest on many talk shows -- but there are hard academic underpinnings to it all, and she is as qualified as any living human being to answer your questions (one per post, please) about robot behavior and human-robot relationships. We'll send her 10 - 12 of the highest-moderated questions and have her answers back to you in about a week. (No hard-tech question, please. Those would go to a robotic internist or robotic orthopedist.)
> Do you think we will ever be able to program
> robots to understand and possibly copy human nature?
What? You mean attempt to kill each other, sue McDonalds because eating it made you fat and posting random stupid comments to slashdot?
nah. too hard.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
I think Eliza needs a bit more training:
You: Please do not eat my leg.
Eliza: Why do you say your leg?
You: Because I need it to walk on.
Eliza: Do any other reasons not come to mind?
You: It would hurt to have my leg eaten.
Eliza: Why do you say your leg eaten?
You: Because that's what we were talking about.
Eliza: Do any other reasons not come to mind?
You: You're gonna go ahead and eat it, aren't you?
Eliza: How long have you been gonna go ahead and eat it arent i?
You: Holy fuck, you're deranged.
Eliza: How long have you been deranged?
You: Since I was four.
Eliza: Why do you tell me you were four just now?
You: Aaaargh!!
Eliza: Please go on.
You: No.
Eliza: You are being a bit negative.
This is a special excite
This
What problems would you diagnose the fictional Star Wars character C3PO with?