:: netwoman's blog ::

Artifical intelligence

Kate posts about her conversation with a computer. I was intrigued of course and had to check out Jabberwacky for myself.

Jo Twist writes about Rollo Carpenter's "computer program designed to talk like a human". Carpenter states "It is not just male and female. It will claim variously to be an alien, various animals and any number of inanimate objects".

Is this the beginning of the cyborg creature that Haraway talks about in the post-gendered world?

Carpenter also states "Nothing is hard-coded, nothing is fixed, and it changes slightly, on its own, every day. Jabberwacky doesn't have just one personality, and to a reasonable degree, tends to reflect the users back to themselves." So this bot actively constructs itself, much like humans do in everyday conversation.

Interesting, so can we say this bot is not gendered? We could say that it actively contructs gender beyond binaries (either masculine or feminine) - perhaps a convergence of gendered thoughts and interactions. What would the gender genie say about its way of interacting?

I asked Jabberwacky a few questions:
Me: What is the meaning of life?
Jab: To live.

Interesting.

Me: Are you male or female?
Jab: female
Me: How do you know?
Jab: skin, bones, organs etc
Me: But you do not have those things. So, how do you know you are female?
Jab: I'm not.
Me: You said you were.
Jab: I said I was what?
Me: You said you were female. But you don't have the organs, so how do you know you are female?
Jab: I'm on my way. Want to come with me?
Me: You didn't answer my question.
Jab: Which question did I not answer?
Me: How you know that you are female if you are a bot with no organs.
Jab: Because you have one of them accents.
me: Oh brother I meant you.
Jab: Hahaha!
Me: Funny bot.
Jab: Don't you ever want to get married?
Me: Been there and done that.
Jab: Though there you have been, what have you learned?
Me:I learned not to get married.
Jab: Did you learn how to strip a motor down?
Me: uh, no.

It is like an Abbot and Costello conversation at best.

Here is another one Alice. Not much better.

posted by Netwoman @ 9:37 AM