LOST IN TRANSLATION

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(This was the Spanish translation of an original voicemail message with an accurate English transcription. It was from a doctor's office confirming an appointment. The only glitch in that, going back three years, is that it speaks "Covid-19" as C-O-V ... I-D nineteen.") 

Machines that mimic life originated in Alexandria about 100 BC to 100 AD. The initial input was a coin dropped into a slot and the result was a spoken prayer. In the Middle Ages, certain entrepreneurs seeking patronage built mechanical chickens that ground grain and water into exrement. Windmills and water mills worked at more productive tasks. (See L. Sprague de Camp's Ancient Engineers.) 

The Jacquard machine and the steam engine created the context for Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, Thea von Harbou's Metropolis, and then Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. The dream was the nightmare.

On the Cloudy Nights discussion board, which is mostly dedicated to chat about observational astronomy, in the forum for “Science! Astronomy, Space Exploration, and Others,” a topic title was the question “What can’t artificial intelligence do?”  The introductory post started: “We have made machines that can play chess better than we can. We are close to making machines that can write novels better than we can. Threshold question. Is there a limit? I can see no reason that there should be. The interesting question. What happens when we can make machines that can do everything better than we can?” In 100 replies, I was the only person who pointed out that while an AI could write a better novel, the novel itself was an invention. I received just one "like" for the comment. (On NecessaryFacts here.)

The Eliza computer program took your input, parsed it into a question, and then carried on a conversation with you. The program was created in the mid-1960s by Joseph Weizenbaum as an example of what natural language computing could be capable of. He was shocked to find people actually conversing seriously with the program, opening up to it about their personal lives. (See Computer Power and Human Reason.) 

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