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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:windowtext'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Samantha Atkins<br></span><b><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>…</span></b><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><pre><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>>>…</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>Ja. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>…</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>I am looking for something that can provide companionship for<o:p></o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>an impaired human, whereas I think Richard is talking about software which<o:p></o:p></span></pre><pre><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>can write software.<o:p></o:p></span></pre><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'><br></span><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'>The Eliza chatbot was very engaging for a lot of students once upon a time</span><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>I sure had fun with her. I kept trying to get her to talk dirty to me. She wasn’t very good at that. But that’s OK neither was I. Seems like we should be able to write code that would generate titillating text.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>It’s been 30 years now since the last time I played Eliza, and it was already free staleware at that time. I would sure as all hell think we must have come up with some kind of improvement in all that time, ja? Software hipsters, what is the modern counterpart to Eliza? I will be really disappointed in you guys if the answer is Eliza.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'> A cat will be more cuddly and humans much more fun to talk to for a longish time. But there is a definite spot in-between that we can just about do something that will be appreciated. </span><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'> –</span><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif"'> </span><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>Samantha<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>Actually you may have stumbled upon exactly what I have been looking for. A warm cuddly android or estroid presents some daunting mechanical engineering and controls engineering problems. But with your in-between cat and computer comment, you may have solved my problem: just go ahead and use cats or dogs, then rig a microphone/speaker to their collar so that the elderly patient can cuddle the actual beast while carrying on an Eliza-level conversation with the machine/beast combination.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>Or I suppose we could rig up another elderly person who has lost the power of speech with an article of clothing which has a microphone/speech recognition/Watson/Eliza-ish inference engine. While still simulated conversation, we might allow the patient to imagine she is talking to another person.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>Good thinking Samanatha!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Cambria","serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>