Eliza in scrubs.
One of the first attempts at artificial intelligence was Joseph Weizenbaum's classic
Eliza experiment. In Computer
Power and Human Reason (p. 188-189) Weizenbaum wrote:
The first extensive script I prepared for ELIZA was
one that enabled it to parody the responses of a nondirective psychotherapist
in an initial psychiatric interview. I chose this script because it enabled
me to temporarily sidestep the problem of giving the program a data base of
real-world knowledge. After all, I reasoned, a psychiatrist can reflect the
patient's remark, "My mommy took my teddy bear away from me," by saying, "Tell
me more about your parents," without really having to know anything about teddy
bears, for example.
Weizenbaum wasn't really attempting to generate intelligence, only an illusion of it.
But he succeeded beyond his expectations. Many of the people who sat and talked
with Eliza felt that she actually helped them with their problems, and some asked
to be alone while conversing with "her", feeling the need for privacy
since they were discussing personal, and intimate, issues.
I wouldn't be surprised if a much more realistic, and intelligent, simulated nurse
wouldn't succeed in creating such an impression today. We have much more experience
with computers, and we've learned to accept, and thus not be fooled by, the illusion
of intelligence.
Go to: Virtual worlds, and real health.