[TriLUG] OT: early computer program that played the role of a psychologist

[Steve Hoffman]

This goes back a LONG time and I doubt is what you are looking for, but in
the Windows 3.1 days we had a dos based program called Dr SBaitso (or
similar spelling) that came with our Sound Blaster program.  I don't know if
it was a therapist..but you essentially typed your issue and it would "text
to speech" it's response back to you (print out like an IM conversation, and
read it to you).
Typical Conversation (remember it not only displayed, but spoke the response
which made it ever so much more entertaining when someone walked by the
office)

It: Hello, I'm Dr. SBaitso, computer psycho-therapist, how can I help you
today?
Me: You Suck!
It: Why do you feel this way?
Me: Because you Suck!
It: I understand, but where does this stem from?
Me: I think you know?
It: What do I know?

I would go on for about 5 minutes out of sheer boredom insulting it in every
way I could think of.  Sure the novelyt wore off quickly but what better way
to kill 15 minutes?

Ahhh, memory lane...

Steve

On 6/7/07, Joseph Mack NA3T <jmack at wm7d.net> wrote:
>
> I'm writing something that talks about the Turing test for
> human mimicry. I remember an early computer program that ran
> on a teletype/console that played the role of a
> psychologist. It was very simple minded but fooled many
> people, who were upset when it was disconnected. I thought
> the computer program's name was LISA.
>
> Looking with google for "psychology counselling computer
> program turing test" doesn't find anything.
>
> Anyone know the computer program I'm talking about?
>
> Joe
>
> --
> Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
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