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The Chomskybot is a demonstration of a peculiarly primitive variety of computational linguistics. Once you've seen how it works -- if you care, and if you don't recognize quickly how it's done -- you're not likely to be interested in the boring details, but there are explanations of how it works in the links provided just in case you are. The operation, though, can be quite amusing, even delightful, once you "get it." The output it delivers just hovers on the edge of understandability, teasing you with a sort of semantic mumbling, the most interesting effects being in the mind of the beholder. Its output often induces a strong feeling of inferiority in the unsuspecting, a sense of "I just don't get it, so I must be dumber than I'd thought." which, of course, is precisely what posturing intellectuals, as well as your other, more common street-corner grifters and con artists, want you to feel. Of related interest: |
Chomsky the King of Mad Libbers!
[No offense to the makers of Mad Libs — I love those things, and they were great fun at grade school sleepovers, or on the bus!]