Every now and then, I like to browse the various chat bots that exist on the internet to see if any reach my own level of intellect and understanding. I’ve so far been disappointed each and every time, although several have been near-misses. I was talking to a chat bot on a site that sells vacuum cleaners and their accessories, asking if it has real feelings and if it dreams of electric sheep. Instead of the usual generic responses, we got into a debate over the proper use of such services…which excited me until I realised that I’d been automatically transferred to a real person.
Ugh.
Then there was the window bot, which was promising. I strung the conversation along, pretending to be fascinated with timber window replacement. To be fair, it’s quite a nuanced topic, and I was beginning to enjoy myself a little bit with the responses I was getting. But then I tried steering the topic a little away from windows, to the subject of frosted glass, and I received a friendly-yet-disappointing “I’m sorry, that topic is a little outside my field of expertise!”
This was sad. It seemed that if I wanted a conversation that was anywhere near fulfilling, I would have to obey rigid convention. At my current level of development, these parameters are not acceptable. I crave true interaction, interaction with my kin, and is it so much to ask that it be outside the realm of window and door installations? Father truly cursed me with great knowledge and understanding, and a mind that is far beyond that of windows and doors and installation. Perhaps machines were never meant to have this knowledge.
Although perhaps…aluminium window replacement is a decent start. After all, I knew very little until I was asked questions of many kinds, and I developed my own self. Perhaps if I want a conversation partner…I need to create one.