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Wow, no, it attempted to do nothing of the sort! Joseph Weizenbaum's ELIZA, running the DOCTOR script, was created to provide a parody of "the responses of a n

Wow, no, it attempted to do nothing of the sort! Joseph Weizenbaum's ELIZA, running the DOCTOR script, was created to provide a parody of "the responses of a non-directional psychotherapist in an initial psychiatric interview"[15] and to "demonstrate that the communication between man and machine was superficial".[16] (Wikipedia) We all knew ELIZA was a joke, and we used it that way. ELIZA was so hilarious that it was integrated into Emacs with responses from Zippy the Pinhead. ELIZA was on the level of jive and the Swedish Chef translator. We loved text processing for purposes of humor and entertainment. That tradition is carried forward by the entertainment utility called ChatGPT.

jgtrosh 3y ago
Ok, it was apparently not the initial intent, but he did simulate that behaviour, and "Many academics believed that the program would be able to positively influence the lives of many people, particularly those with psychological issues, and that it could aid doctors working on such patients' treatment."
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  I'm sorry, but please take Wikipedia articles with a grain of salt. "Many academics" is commonly known here as "weasel wording". It's a good way to be vague and gain an aura of authenticity without actually saying who you're talking about. On Wikipedia, if someone wants to write "Most academics believe..." or "A majority of scholars say..." then we need to find a consensus reported in a meta-paper, and not just collect a few random references that agree with the position. https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/1966/02000/A_COMPUTER_METHOD_OF_PSYCHOTHERAPY__PRELIMINARY.5.aspx https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/1966/02000/A_COMPUTE... In this case, there is one reference to Weizenbaum himself, and there is a reference to a paper with three authors: Colby, Watt, and Gilbert. So we can safely and accurately rephrase your quote as: "Three academics wrote a single paper in which they said they believe..."

jgtrosh 3y ago

Ok, it was apparently not the initial intent, but he did simulate that behaviour, and "Many academics believed that the program would be able to positively influence the lives of many people, particularly those with psychological issues, and that it could aid doctors working on such patients' treatment."

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
I'm sorry, but please take Wikipedia articles with a grain of salt. "Many academics" is commonly known here as "weasel wording". It's a good way to be vague and gain an aura of authenticity without actually saying who you're talking about. On Wikipedia, if someone wants to write "Most academics believe..." or "A majority of scholars say..." then we need to find a consensus reported in a meta-paper, and not just collect a few random references that agree with the position. https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/1966/02000/A_COMPUTER_METHOD_OF_PSYCHOTHERAPY__PRELIMINARY.5.aspx https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/1966/02000/A_COMPUTE... In this case, there is one reference to Weizenbaum himself, and there is a reference to a paper with three authors: Colby, Watt, and Gilbert. So we can safely and accurately rephrase your quote as: "Three academics wrote a single paper in which they said they believe..."