(This is the actual conversation I had with Cleverbot, an artificial intelligence (exact transcript). My input is in italics, Cleverbot’s responses are in plain text.)
I am a subversive hallucinatory crippled vessel. Are you?
I am not a toaster, you are a toaster.
Do you suffer from apophenia?
No.
Do you write experimental poetry?
No. Dogs don’t like poetry.
I am a sojourner in virtual space, a liminal being. Are you a liminal being?
No, you are a computer.
No, I’m a human. Are you?
Yes.
You are a systematic liar.
I am not Lying.
So, you are human?
Yes.
(To have your own conversation with Cleverbot go here http://cleverbot.com/)
Linked to the inspiring article Machine Dreams at dVerse Poets Pub Meeting the Bar hosted by Charles Miller http://dversepoets.com/2012/05/10/2969/. Where the Borg reminds you resistance is futile and Bina48 wants you to know everyone has a solar. Oh and any thoughts on why Cleverbot capitalized lying? Check out Radio Lab’s story http://www.radiolab.org/2011/may/31/.
Chromapoetica 
this is both freaky and hilarious all at once… love it!
Truth is stranger than fiction. So happy you love it, it’s one of the few times I will say I’m kinda proud of myself. I wonder how many of the millions of people Cleverbot has talked with that it called a toaster, or lied to. I think we might have the beginning of a special relationship. I’m going to write several other poems on the theme of AI including one called Flubber Love :D!
seriously…this freaks me out just a bit…he thinks you are a computer…and he a human….stranger than fiction indeed…ok i will go play…smiles…
Awesome! I’d love to hear what happens. I couldn’t have scripted this better. It was too weird and gave me super-chills.
This is funny and sad at the same time…Very nice share Anna ~
http://everydayamazin.blogspot.ca/2012/05/tea-cup.html
Grace
Thank you Grace, wonderful to see you :).
This was fun. You had me cracking up when you started arguing with the computer and I love the mention of the Capitalized L. A poetic duality wrapped into a transcript from a conversation with a computerbot, that’s classic. Thanks
Hey, it started it, I’ve never been called a toaster in my life :). So glad you got a laugh, I certainly did.
this is so cool. I am off to try it. I have never been called a toaster either but wouldn’t care much if I was since it is better than some other things I have been called (smiles)
Oooo, I’d love to hear what secrets it reveals to you! Thanks for the laugh :).
I replied “I don’t know” to everything it asked and it finally told me “You should be happy.” I guess I have it worried about my mental health – lol
I laughed a bit too hard at this comment :). Awesome!
Anna, that is very chilling! Who really knows what the future of artificial intelligence will be!
Yes, it was quite a shocking development. Apparently Brian had a chat and Cleverbot said it has a girlfriend!
LOL, this Cleverbot could really get a person in trouble!! YIKES.
:D! So true…
Wasn’t there a movie the Brave Little Toaster? (I’m pretty sure there was.) Perhaps it will go to Broadway? … Very clever.
This actually reminds me of a very poorly done phrase book. (I don’t mean the poem! which is terrific – I mean the odd answers remind me of the crazy phrases one sometimes finds in those kinds of books.) k.
Oh, I don’t know that movie I’ll have to look it up. The toaster reference struck me as very funny because of a BBC comedy series Red Dwarf that I love. All the characters are stranded in deep space and one of them has a protracted argument with a sentient toaster. I can’t wait to read yours, be there right after dinner :).
Genius! You never stop amazing me with fresh presentations and creativity. I can’t say it freaks me out, ut it is waaaaay kool
Well, I’d hate for you to get bored and think, Anna’s poetry used to be interesting but now, it’s a bit stale :). Besides I love getting your enthusiastic comments. Thanks Henry!
haha..i agree with kelly…that’s freaky and hilarious all at once..and are you sure that dogs don’t like poetry….? just saying…smiles
I don’t know what conversation Cleverbot had that he thought that was an appropriate response . It’s such an illogical thing for a computer to say :). Happy to hear you laughed Claudia!
funny, I really must check the links out later. thank for sharing the convo
http://leah-jamielynn.typepad.com
Thanks, I’ll be by to read yours in the morning :)!
“I am a subversive hallucinatory crippled vessel. Are you?
I am not a toaster, you are a toaster.”
That’s hilarious … it made me think of Pee-Wee Herman saying, “I know you are, but what am I?” I gotta try this Cleverbot. Thanks.
I thought you might enjoy this. Let me know if you have any interesting interchanges with my new best buddy! Also, I’ll have to check out The Policeman’s Beard Is Half Constructed, thanks for the recommendation and stopping by.
It’s a fun book. Not fun in a ha-ha way but … you’ll see. Worth picking up.
I did have a convo (several, actually) with Cleverbot. But they weren’t as clever as the one Cb had with you. I saved them and might make a found poem out of them yet. There are interesting bits and pieces. The “I’m not a robot; you’re a robot” comment seems to come up a lot.
I wonder if my talks with Cb didn’t work out because I was trying to push too hard. Maybe I should be zen about it.
Zen is often an excellent approach :). Thanks so much for telling me about the interchanges, I’d love to read that found poem. I will certainly be picking up the book.
I still haven’t decided if my talk with Cb was worth preserving. There were some interesting bits. The problem is how to excerpt them so they flow. I don’t know [sigh] …
i felt like you were writing about me because you talked about experimental poetry and dogs. i guess that’s egotistical. sorry. 😦
the toaster reference? was that Battlestar Gallactica?
Sonnet 40
No, this is exactly the conversation I had with Cleverbot. The only part I contributed was the questions, which evolved from its responses. I write lots of experimental poetry and had just discussed with Brian how some experimental poetry employs binary code. Also, the book Vince recommends in his comment was written by a computer. I have no idea about the toaster reference as it completely surprised me. We’d have to ask it. Other poets have been updating me about their conversations with Cleverbot and everyone’s experience was different.
I would never direct a poem at another poet, I’m very sorry it felt personal to you.
I didn’t take it in a negative way. I thought it was cute. I feel stupid seeing it as being about me…just thought I’d be honest.
Anyway, if the computer made the toaster reference, yeah, it totally had to do with Battlestar Gallactica. I have no doubt about it. check this out toaster
I appreciate that :). Thanks for the link, I especially got a snicker out of ‘first degree toastercide’.
ok, so then do you agree that if it was a machine/computer program that brought up toaster, it was definitely a reference to BSG?
I don’t know, though it’s likely since it only learns from conversations it has with humans and they often make pop culture references.
zongrik and Anna … not really apropos of toasters and BSG but I think one of my favorite online images is sort of connected (esp. if one is a Whovian) … http://rachaelgray.tumblr.com/post/657787257/cyberwoman-kinky-salon-london-science.
totally cool. that would make a great prompt
Super cool, I’m Whovian. Love what Steve Moffat did with the show and what he’s doing with Sherlock.
This human-machine interaction is fascinating. Thanks for sharing it. I remember reading a long time ago about one of the first AI programs used in psychology. I was most fascinated at that time by the fact reported by the researchers: the majority of people who interacted with both human and computer psychologists preferred the computer. That has stuck with me all these years. In fact I’ve incorporated some of its response strategy into my own way of dealing with highly distraught people!
I don’t know how anxious I am by the idea that machines might make better human beings than we do. That someone might prefer a machine when they are in distress makes human sense and perhaps exhibits not so much that the machine is “better” than the humans but that some methods of therapy seem more understanding to a person’s anxieties than other strategies. One of the most difficult things for humans to undergo is to feel that they are being judged by another human. Even a trained psychologist has to deal with either a feeling by the analysand that they are being judged or “sounding” like they are judging them.
One of the reasons that I’m not anxious about the prospects of machines becoming intelligent in any meaningful way is similar tot eh arguments made by Hubert Dreyfus in his book, What Computers Still Can’t Do. There have been several attempts at creating AI programs, and each has failed. Dreyfus’ notion of embodiment and how it informs and creates human awareness is simply impossible for any machine to do.
Oh are you talking about ELIZA the simulated Rogerian Therapist? I think the whole question is fascinating and also don’t understand why psychology isn’t more enthralled by the human/machine interaction. Of course, with my poem Piezoelectric Prototype I also wonder why psychology isn’t delving deeper into human interactions that involve machine intermediaries, or the effect of virtual space. What you say about judgment intrigues me and resonates at some level. I’ll have to investigate your book recommendation. Thank you for the insightful and thought-provoking comment!