Modern Bard Sightings
Post 1
Started conversation Oct 2, 2002
One of my favorite novels is "Galatea 2.2" by Richard Powers, 1995. In a nutshell, it involves an artificial intelligence named Helen who is trained by our English major hero (named "Richard Powers") to pass the Turing test. The title of the review in the NY Times was "Pygmalion in the Computer Lab". Its a complex novel, but the final test between the computer and a literature grad student involves explaining the meaning of a text selected by an impartial judge. Expecting a complete work from the canon, the text provided for the test is:
"Be not afeard. Ths isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not."
When our hero asks, "Is that it?", the judge replies "Too much? Then just do the first line." (paraphrasing).
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