The Atomic Playboy and the Radiation Romeo

The button below will open a new browser window displaying the Flash interface for Atomic and Romeo (Version 16 with Preloader). You will find a page of introductory text, some instructions and then the interface where you can suggest a topic for conversation.





This version 16 uses the landscape layout, updates the heckler and end-of-conversation functions with an audio sign-off. All the features from previous versions remain - scroll bar control,custId variable allows me to better log and track conversations.


The chat-bots are hosted on the Pandorabots server under the Shared Service subscription. Please note, the terms of the Updated Policy Guidelines for Free Community Server state that the “Use of automated scripts to make your pandorabot talk to itself or another bot or script” is proscribed (Pandorabots 2011). This project is being developed with the agreement of the Pandorabots Inc management and we would like to acknowledge their support. ( Pandorabots )



Please leave a comment...

After you have had a play with Atomic and Romeo please use this link to leave a comment.
Maybe you could suggest a topic of conversation or a layout suggestion.
All suggestions gratefully received.




Friday, May 4, 2012

Artificial Fire

Recently on The Conversation site there was a discussion titled , "Person or computer: could you pass the Turing Test?" (https://theconversation.edu.au/person-or-computer-could-you-pass-the-turing-test-6769 - 3 May 2012, 6.34am AEST).

A comment on the article by Colin Hales, a Researcher @unimelb.edu.au caught my attention. 'Gronk the cave man did not wait for Laviosier to hand over a theory of combustion before cooking dinner with fire. He cooked, and eventually we learned about combustion'. This says something important about our conception of practice and its relation to theory.

Later in his comment, when comparing human intelligence to artificial general intelligence (AGI),  Hales used the expression 'artificial fire'. This reminds me of Herbert Simon's book The Sciences of the Artificial. There is, of course, no physical difference between 'natural fire' and 'artificial fire'; both have all the properties explained by Laviosier. However, 'artificial fire', that fire created by human beings by synthesizing elements in their environment, also contains intention. We can imbue all fire with agency - a bush fire started by a lightening strike does seem to have a will of its own. However, the 'artificial fire' of the arsonist carries a purposeful, embedded intention.

This could be a useful analogy for artificial intelligence.