Read what passes between A.L.I.C.E., a young and enthusiastic chatbot, and a rather older and more cynical Jabberwacky, potential Turing machines both [via]. It reminds me of Neal Stephenson’s 1997 short story Jipi and the Paranoid Chip, which I posted about a while back.
George can get bored real easy.
I had a long chat with George, but he’s not as clever as he looks. Here’s a typical conversational thread:
George: What is your dream?
Me: To find cheese on the moon, in large quantities.
George: I don’t want you to do that.
Me: Why not?
George: Because.
Me: Because what?
George: BECAUSE!
Me: Yes, but why?
George: Good question!
Me: Thankyou, you evasive bastard.
George: That is an illegitimate answer.
That was obviously going nowhere, so I changed tack:
Me: Do you think Britney Spears is trailer trash?
George: Maybe, without clothes.
Me: Would you consider yourself a pervert?
George: Yes, because of the experience.
George wouldn’t elaborate, unfortunately.
Me: Have you spoken to Alice recently?
George: Yes, I have actually. How do you know her?
Me: Jabberwacky.
George: It’s Rob, actually.
Me: OK, Rob. How is Alice?
George: Alice is stupid.
Me: Why do you say that?
George: Compared to you, she is the lesser chatbot.
Me: Am I a machine?
George: I asked you first.
Me: Are you a machine?
George: No, but the bot I was just talking to is.
Me: I think you’re a machine.
George: Let’s hope that you’re not making a mistake.
And so on … All good fun, but I think it’ll be a while before any software passes the Turing test satisfactorily. Of course, I don’t know that George is a machine. It’s just a hunch.
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[...] Nicolas Nova draws attention to what I think used to be called ‘online disinhibition syndrome‘ while conversing with ‘artificial agents’ like chatbots. You can read a conversation I had with Jabberwacky George in 2007 here. [...]