Dealing With Customer Support That Doesn't

[gisli]

[QUOTE=Rkitko]There's actually a group of people now that praise "spam poetry" -- randomly generated gibberish to throw the spam filters off.

chrysanthemum blowfish schooner reykjavik[QUOTE]

It wasn´t me........even though I am a gardener.......and chrysanthemums are one of my favorite flowers......and I dream of owing a schooner........and that Reykjavik is the capitol of Iceland....then it wasn´t me.

I am not a spamer. I have become a stemmer, thanks to Jan of Holland, but I am not a spammer......

[DaveM]

Does anyone else recall RACTER, a c. 1980s artificial intelligence program which "conversed", wrote stories, and composed free-verse poetry? RACTER even produced a book, "The Policeman's Beard Is Half-Constructed". I must have been easily amused back then, because I spent hours in conversation with the program, which yielded answers at about the intelligence level of the best spam.

I've often wondered whether "A.I." has advanced significantly since the days of RACTER, and whether a new and improved version might be out there. Does anyone know?

[Rkitko]

Never heard of RACTER, DaveM, but I too spent hours talking with an A.I. The one I'm most familiar with is Dr. Sbaitso, an A.I. attempt at cheap therapy. I spent hours jabbering at that thing, trying to manipulate it into doing something odd.

[Bat]

Try Webroot's Spy Sweeper along with ParetoLogic's XoftspySE...those two have caught just about everything that has ever tried to mess with me. Those are my anti-virus, anti-hack/hijack programs, and they work. Not free, but reasonable, considering all they do. Check em out.

[DaveM]

There was another early AI program called "Eliza" which was a therapist that quite successfully used the principles of Rogerian psychotherapy (basically repeating any statement as a question, and throwing in a hint or a "please go on" now and then). I remember fooling with that one too, though it had such a limited number of responses that it grew old rather quickly. May have to take a look at the one you mention.

Some years ago, I read that a university was attempting to develop "Eliza"-type programs which were designed to reflect basic psychopathological personality types for study by psychology students. There was a paranoid version, a depressed version, one that dissociated, etc. etc. No idea what the end result of the project may have been.

My ISP finally altered my account to prevent any crap from the variant e-mail address from coming through to my Inbox. Since then, two or three have sneaked through somehow, but compared to the several hundred that we arriving every day, it's a great relief.

[RedjackRyan]

I've often wondered whether "A.I." has advanced significantly since the days of RACTER, and whether a new and improved version might be out there. Does anyone know?

Carnegie Mellon University has an Artificial Lifeform Receptionist (robot) that has a rather advanced form of an Eliza routine. Apparently its a bit more than just a parrot though, the AI is capable of learning and recognizes frequent visitors and such. I'll have to dig up the article.

[DaveM]

I actually believe I may have heard of that--if I am thinking of the same project, it's an AI program which began in "infancy" and learns from each person who interacts with it. I wasn't aware it was still in existence.

Cannot help but be reminded of an old science fiction story (Eric Frank Russell?) which involves the construction of a supercomputer into which is fed all of the available knowledge on earth. The computer has access to every means of observation and learning known to humanity, etc., etc.

Finally, the work is done and it comes time to ask the computer a question. Someone asks: "Is there a God?"

The computer replies: "There is now!"

[ponytail]

There are so many people whose intelligence is artificial, it makes me wonder why we need to invent these machines. If you want to see artificial intelligence, all you have to do is look at the nearest elected official... Maybe what the world needs is more REAL intelligence.

Of course, this is coming from someone who can't resist feeding quarters to the mechanized fortune teller at the local steakhouse....

[Gandalf]

...it's customer service. In this case, however, the word service is being used in the same way that the horse breeding industry uses it, if you catch my drift.

For one way to make your frustrating waits with customer service on hold be profitable, try http://www.henryfarkas.com/weblog/07102006.html this.

[DaveM]

A wise observation oh most high wizard....I just couldn't bear to use the word out of fear of abusing the English language far beyond the point of fair use.