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KF5JRV > TECH 09.05.16 13:29l 41 Lines 2583 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 2676_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: ELIZA
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ<KF5JRV
Sent: 160509/1118Z 2676@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
Joseph Weizenbaum Writes ELIZA: A Pioneering Experiment in AI Programming
Between 1964 and 1966 German and American computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum
at MIT wrote the computer program ELIZA. This program, named after the ingenue
in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, was an early example of primitive
natural language processing. The program operated by processing users'
responses to scripts, the most famous of which was DOCTOR, which was capable
of engaging humans in a conversation which bore a striking resemblance to one
with an empathic psychologist. Weizenbaum modeled its conversational style
after Carl Rogers, who introduced the use of open-ended questions to encourage
patients to communicate more effectively with therapists. The program applied
pattern matching rules to statements to figure out its replies. Using almost
no information about human thought or emotion, DOCTOR sometimes provided a
startlingly human-like interaction.
"When the "patient" exceeded the very small knowledge base, DOCTOR might
provide a generic response, for example, responding to "My head hurts" with
"Why do you say your head hurts?" A possible response to "My mother hates me"
would be "Who else in your family hates you?" ELIZA was implemented using
simple pattern matching techniques, but was taken seriously by several of its
users, even after Weizenbaum explained to them how it worked. It was one of
the first chatterbots in existence".
"Weizenbaum was shocked that his program was taken seriously by many users,
who would open their hearts to it. He started to think philosophically about
the implications of artificial intelligence and later became one of its
leading critics.
"His influential 1976 book Computer Power and Human Reason displays his
ambivalence towards computer technology and lays out his case: while
Artificial Intelligence may be possible, we should never allow computers to
make important decisions because computers will always lack human qualities
such as compassion and wisdom. Weizenbaum makes the crucial distinction
between deciding and choosing. Deciding is a computational activity, something
that can ultimately be programmed. Choice, however, is the product of
judgment, not calculation. It is the capacity to choose that ultimately makes
us human. Comprehensive human judgment is able to include non-mathematical
factors, such as emotions. Judgment can compare apples and oranges, and can do
so without quantifying each fruit type and then reductively quantifying each
to factors necessary for comparison"
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