tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018073541417646773.post6188968539313081983..comments2024-03-28T18:11:29.865-04:00Comments on UNDERNEWS: When you use Socrates as your classroom mentor rather than Bill GatesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018073541417646773.post-87292817036325198832014-10-08T14:13:12.289-04:002014-10-08T14:13:12.289-04:00The late Joseph Weizenbaum, a computer science pro...The late Joseph Weizenbaum, a computer science prof at MIT, didn't think much of the idea of machine intelligence (usually called "AI" or artificial intelligence -- computers that can think). <br /><br />So to demonstrate how ridiculous it was, he wrote a little text-matching program that gave canned responses to someone typing at a terminal. It looked, if you played straight with it, something like a Rogerian therapist (the late psychologist Carl Rogers pioneered and promoted what he called "non-directive" therapies).<br /><br />Ol' Joe was scandalised when people started treating his little program as though it actually demonstrated intelligence.<br /><br />He was a pretty smart guy in his field, but as a psychologist he was self-embarrassing. He hadn't a clue that most people are so desperate to be listened-to that they'll even talk to a computer that crudely <i>appears</i> to listen to them. Anything is better than nothing, to them, and why shouldn't it be?<br /><br />The program is called "Eliza" and can be found in a number of places on the web, for those who'd like to try it out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com