Go read ELIZA's author, Joseph Weizenbaum's book, "Computer and Human Reason"; well at least the first 2 chapters. Let me justify it, (I'm typing it out from a hard copy so excuse my brevity)<p>Page 4:<p>"DOCTOR...soon became famous...mainly because it was an easy program to demonstrate. Most other programs could not vividly demonstrate the information-processing power of a computer to visitors who did not already have some specialized knowledge"<p>As in, the mid-1960s, this was (one of) the first non-technical computer programs. No commands, no manual, no conceptual overview needed - just sit down and start typing.<p>Page 6:<p>"I suggested I might rig the system so that I could examine all conversations anyone had had with it, say, overnight. I was promptly bombarded with accusations that what I proposed amounted to spying on people's most intimate thoughts; clear evidence that people were conversing with the computer as if it were a person who could be appropriately and usefully addressed in intimate terms ... what I had not realized is that extremely short exposure to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people."<p>Page 38:<p>"Like highways and automobiles, they [new forms of media] enable the society to articulate entirely new forms of social action, but at the same time they irreversibly disable formerly available modes of social behavior."<p>... that's a pretty deep insight about social media, especially from 1976.<p>Pages 115-130 he writes quite critically of "hacker culture", characterizing the participants as "compulsive programmers" and comparing them to gamblers. I'm not making any judgment on his claims in those pages, but his arguments are fairly unique and I had not seen them before.
So many great Eliza submissions in the past:<p><a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=comments%3E0%20Eliza&sort=byDate&type=story&storyText=none" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...</a><p>But not really any fundamental discussions, probably because it was already so well known as a thing.
For anyone interested in learning more I recommend the 99% Invisible episode on it: <a href="https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-eliza-effect/" rel="nofollow">https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-eliza-effect/</a>
Eliza was great value for as long as you could stay within its limitations. Eliza was a true friend.<p>Imagine Eliza GPT 2020, speech enabled friend in pocket.<p>Who's going to implement it?