Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
'mother' not mean 'your mum'?”), the rules of grammar, the structure
of sentences, how conversation works, and much more.
The earliest conversational programs, written during the mid-1960s,
were designed to achieve limited success, and then only within highly
constrained domains in which a small number of facts sufficed to give
the user the impression that the computer understood what was being
imparted to it. The classic example of a program from this era is ELIZA,
developed by Joseph Weizenbaum in the Computer Science Department
at MIT starting in 1964. ELIZA was a parody of a Rogerian psychother-
apist, one who takes a passive role during an analysis session and reflects
back the patient's statements by rephrasing them into questions.
One of the earliest quoted examples of a real conversation conducted
by ELIZA was with a young woman who worked in Weizenbaum's labo-
ratory.
Young woman: Men are all alike.
ELIZA:
In what way?
Young woman: They're always bugging us about something
specific or other.
ELIZA:
Can you think of a specific example?
Young woman: Well, my boyfriend made me come here.
ELIZA:
Your boyfriend made you come here?
Young woman: He says I'm depressed much of the time.
ELIZA:
I am sorry to hear you are depressed.
Youngwoman: It'strue.I'munhappy.
ELIZA:
Do you think coming here will help you not
to be unhappy?
Young woman:
I need some help, that much seems certain.
ELIZA:
What would it mean to you if you got some
help?
Young woman: Perhaps I could learn to get along with my
mother.
