On 23/07/2020 11:51, Chris Angelico wrote:
On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 9:17 AM dn via Python-list
<python-list@python.org> wrote:
However, questions remain:-
Robot: any machine or mechanical device that operates automatically with
humanlike skill
What about a human that operates mechanically with merely robot-like
skill? I'm pretty sure I've spoken to them on the phone many times.
Can't say - I've never tried to speak with @Ethan over the phone.
...and what do you call the robot which can't/won't operate by phone,
and takes a week to respond to your email - and then often by asking for
information previously provided, eg a certain book-seller's "Mr Neil
would you please confirm that your voucher number is 12345?"
However, on the Turing machine side, I recall creating an abbreviated
version for a University Open Day - way back in the seventies and when
VDU-terminals were a novelty and thus curiosities.
The program worked in similar manner to the famous "Eliza"
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA) - attempting to give an illusion
of understanding and conversation. It stored a mere top-twenty phrases.
When the user entered some text, it would randomly select one of these
and 'reply'. The user was invited to give feedback, ie whether it was a
good reply or not. These were used to score/grade the phrases. Then the
user's data-entry was added to the 'database of phrases' in place of the
existing phrase with the lowest score. Thus the conversation continued.
'On the day', many of our visitors were convinced that either the
computer was capable of holding a conversation (à la Turing), or that
there was a person hidden-away somewhere, providing the 'answers'.
Most telling, reviewing the 'database' at the end, showed twenty of the
most innocuous phrases in English conversation - those which were so
multi-purpose that they could be used in almost any situation (phatic
phrases: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phatic_expression).
You be sure to have a nice day, now!
--
Regards =dn
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