4 ms·

As formulaic as some series are, I wonder how long it will be until a best seller is "written" by a program?

by jbperry 14y ago

jacquesm 14y ago
This is more like what I'd expect from a next generation search engine than from a book.
bennyg 14y ago
Sounds like a human-guided genetic algorithm might be able to handle this today.
scrumper 14y ago
"The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed," written in 1983 by a program named Racter. Bestseller? It's very well known, but I don't know how well it sold.
- bcoates 14y ago
  Racter was more of a William S. Burroughs cut-up program, it mostly randomizes and regurgitates it's input. Policeman's Beard required carefully selected input and is on the border of being a hoax.
  - scrumper 14y ago
    Huh, did not know that - thanks. Interesting.
- derleth 14y ago
  > "The Policeman's Beard" Was Largely Prefab! http://www.robotwisdom.com/ai/racterfaq.html http://www.robotwisdom.com/ai/racterfaq.html This is an interesting web page that convincingly makes the case that "The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed" was written largely by the humans involved, with the program having a minimal role, and that the Racter program they sold to the public was incapable of reproducing the novel.
modarts 14y ago
I guess this is the physical manifestation of the "million monkeys on a typewriter" thought experiment.
- alanh 14y ago
  It made me think of Sarte’s infinite library, but the reality of these books looks nothing like either.
  - czr80 14y ago
    Borges, not Sarte.
  - derleth 14y ago
    "The Library of Babel", by Borges > "The Library of Babel" (Spanish: La biblioteca de Babel) is a short story by Argentine author and librarian Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), conceiving of a universe in the form of a vast library containing all possible 410-page books of a certain format. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel
robflynn 14y ago
Your comment reminded me of this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Plagiarist-ebook/dp/B004ZUZT5W http://www.amazon.com/The-Plagiarist-ebook/dp/B004ZUZT5W

As formulaic as some series are, I wonder how long it will be until a best seller is "written" by a program?

by jbperry 14y ago

As formulaic as some series are, I wonder how long it will be until a best seller is "written" by a program?

jacquesm 14y ago

This is more like what I'd expect from a next generation search engine than from a book.

bennyg 14y ago

Sounds like a human-guided genetic algorithm might be able to handle this today.

scrumper 14y ago

"The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed," written in 1983 by a program named Racter. Bestseller? It's very well known, but I don't know how well it sold.

bcoates 14y ago
Racter was more of a William S. Burroughs cut-up program, it mostly randomizes and regurgitates it's input. Policeman's Beard required carefully selected input and is on the border of being a hoax.
- scrumper 14y ago
  Huh, did not know that - thanks. Interesting.
derleth 14y ago
> "The Policeman's Beard" Was Largely Prefab! http://www.robotwisdom.com/ai/racterfaq.html http://www.robotwisdom.com/ai/racterfaq.html This is an interesting web page that convincingly makes the case that "The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed" was written largely by the humans involved, with the program having a minimal role, and that the Racter program they sold to the public was incapable of reproducing the novel.

modarts 14y ago

I guess this is the physical manifestation of the "million monkeys on a typewriter" thought experiment.

alanh 14y ago
It made me think of Sarte’s infinite library, but the reality of these books looks nothing like either.
- czr80 14y ago
  Borges, not Sarte.
- derleth 14y ago
  "The Library of Babel", by Borges > "The Library of Babel" (Spanish: La biblioteca de Babel) is a short story by Argentine author and librarian Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), conceiving of a universe in the form of a vast library containing all possible 410-page books of a certain format. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel

robflynn 14y ago

Your comment reminded me of this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Plagiarist-ebook/dp/B004ZUZT5W http://www.amazon.com/The-Plagiarist-ebook/dp/B004ZUZT5W