AI and Python - Eliza and Counseling Humans

[Dennis E. Hamilton]

The last version of Eliza that I saw was written in Basic, so this
should not be a big job.  I don't know if one is available in Python
though.

I want to move from the practicality of analyzing natural-language
question responses to the possible undesirable consequences of using
such technology, regardless of technology availability.

Joe Weizenbaum has written at length about his distress at seeing people
use Eliza, his creation, as if there were a benign human at the other
end of the dialog.  Also, when the accomplishment of Eliza was taken as
evidence for suitability of natural-language dialog in a clinical
therapeutic capacity, Joe expressed even more concern.

I do not know what the current view of medical or counseling
professionals is at this point, but I suggest that using a computer to
interact with "kids in trouble" is not necessarily a constructive
action, and needs to be examined very carefully.  (These days, there are
probably liability considerations, too.)  I don't have a good picture of
what it is you are trying to do, but I suspect that having kids speak to
an attentive, trustworthy counselor or peer is far superior.  Is there a
support hot-line for kids in your community?

Your application may well be harmless.  I just didn't want to let your
questions go by without making sure you are aware of the concerns that
have been raised around use of Eliza-like programs in non-trivial
human-interaction situations, especially ones where genuine human
contact is the most important element needed.

-- Dennis

AIIM DMware Technical Coordinator
I am traveling until June 1, 2000, and am best reached via E-mail until
then.

Dennis E. Hamilton
----------------------------
InfoNuovo
mailto:infonuovo at email.com
http://www.infonuovo.com




-----Original Message-----
From: python-list-admin at python.org
[mailto:python-list-admin at python.org]On Behalf Of lexberezhny
Sent: Friday, 12 May 2000 19:27
To: python-list at python.org
Subject: Re: AI and Python


Hi,
  I was wondering if there was a version of eliza in python?

 - Lex



Chris Ryland <cpr at emsoftware.com> wrote in message
news:Yi2T4.266$mh3.4671 at news...
> http://www.norvig.com/python-lisp.html
>
> is a good comparison of Lisp and Python (Lisp being the canonical AI
> language). There's more on that web site as well.
> --
> Cheers!
> / Chris Ryland, President / Em Software, Inc. / www.emsoftware.com
>
> "lexberezhny" <lexberezhny at email.msn.com> wrote in message
> news:OwZBsfGv$GA.306 at cpmsnbbsa04...
> > I was wondering if anyone has dont any artificial inteligence with
Python.
> > I am writing a program for my school, which is ment to talk to kids
in
> > trouble, it will ask some simple questions based on the student
answers,
> > there is already a list of questions that we might want answered, so
its
> not
> > really AI. But I wanted any opinions on this topic. Thanks.
>
>
>


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