Friday, July 13, 2012

7/9-7/15 Post 2: From Computer Power and Human Reason


I found this article to not be so difficult to read. It definitely caught my attention. The fact that it was done and written in the 1960s has yet to cease to impress me. It's amazing the concept behind the conversation between the computer and person. I am always astonished how people come up with thoughts and inventions that later change the world. I can barely think straight. The project ELIZA/Doctor was able to hold a conversation for quite some time given the circumstances of input/output and the computer not knowing what it meant.  In the article, when the words "new media" were used, I could not help smiling and laughing thinking about what it means today compared to what it meant back then. It is also crazy how during this study, people expressed their inner most thoughts and feelings to the computer. Emotional bonds were made only after a short period of time. I still think this is true in today's world. I know I freak out if I misplace my computer or phone and lots of people revolve their lives around their cars and technology. Lastly, ELIZA being only a simple small step in research has had  so much impact and significance on technology and computer to humans today.

2 comments:

  1. Good post Jinxx, I like how you reference the time period when this article was written. It is pretty amazing when you consider what ELIZA was capable of doing back in the 1960's. It's also easy to see how people can become so attached to technology. In todays world our lives almost entirely revolve around technology and we are connected to a piece of technology 24/7 via our cellphones. However, with technology being such a mainstay in our lives it seems sometimes that we do take the human interaction for granted. I hope that as technology continues to evolve we dont see our interaction with friends and family diminish.

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  2. Great Post Jinxx, i felt like you really hit on some good points. This article was very interesting. I didn't feel like it was too hard to understand either. There were a lot of things within this article that somewhat amazed me. For instance, the conversation the computer had with the person. It wasn't really a normal conversation either, the computer was acting as a therapist. It was interesting to see that the computer was asking very relevant questions within the interview. Even though the man had to give the computer a script in order for ELIZA to be able to converse, i still find it amazing that it was doing what it did. The biggest part is how long ago this experiment was done.

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