Comments on: Conversation with Stetsasonic (online resource)

By: colleenk

colleenk — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:44:16 +0000

Hi Paul,

An interesting application of the talking avatar in math class would be to have students program the robot to respond to questions about a particular math concept. Students would have to know enough about the topic (fractions, quadrilaterals, etc) in order to program the avatar effectively. I’ve been playing around with this idea lately. If it’s not too time consuming, I may use it as a form of assessment. Of course, this application is not unique to math and could be used with almost any subject.

By: Paul Hamilton

Paul Hamilton — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:37:02 +0000

Marie. Sorry about the sidetrack, but pleased that the two of you were entertained. I find the whole thing both intriguing and entertaining. I couldn’t resist the temptation to go back and chat again with Stetsasonic. The potential of technology never fails to amaze me! –Paul

By: Marie

Marie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:56:18 +0000

You managed to sidetrack my plan to go through and clear my email inbox … my eight year old was in hysterics at the responses. Being vegetarian, he was pretty impressed with the chili tofu response too! I’m going to tag this one and use it in my typing classes to add a bit of fun.

By: science websites

science websites — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:14:24 +0000

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By: Paul Hamilton

Paul Hamilton — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:18:02 +0000

Larry. I’m glad you were entertained. It seems that I managed to sidetrack you for at least a little while! Thank you for the many wonderfully helpful ways that you sidetrack me on a daily basis.

Jan. When I see comments from you, I’m always so pleased to be reminded that there are people right here in the Comox Valley who subscribe to my blog! I definitely managed to distract and sidetrack you for a while this morning!

Your first comment, Jan, didn’t appear right away because I had to “appprove” it. That is the programmed rule for a comment that contains multiple links. This rule is intended to prevent “comment spam”. Thanks, though, for including the links!

–Paul

By: Jan Smith

Jan Smith — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:58:34 +0000

I just had my own conversation with stetsasonic, hoping to hear her sing: but she doesn’t! It’s more like emotionless poetry. I mentioned that a computer was able to sing 45 years ago, and then she asked me my age! What a riot! Of course it lead to one of her pithy quotes, but she seemed willing to pass on this new information to a bot of some kind.

Ah, what will they think of next?

By: Jan Smith

Jan Smith — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:44:48 +0000

Hi Paul (or User or picky?),

When I first looked at this post in my aggregator I was tempted to skip the long conversation. I am so glad I read through it–I laughed out loud several times. Your dialogue so beautifully illustrates the subtleties and complexities of language and communication.

At times I was reminded of the Abbott and Costello gem, newly minted in text form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejweI0EQpX8
Did you feel you were trapped in the conversation, fighting to understand as Costello does?

And how clever of “signifier” to program Stetsasonic (with a nod to HAL) to sing “Daisy, Daisy”. Hard to believe a computer first sang that piece 45 years ago. Listen to the last file on this page http://www.vintagecomputermusic.com/ from the First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival to hear it yourself.

Thanks again for the sidetrack–made me think.

By: Larry Ferlazzo

Larry Ferlazzo — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:31:26 +0000

Paul,

That was an entertaining and fascinating conversation!

Thanks for sharing it.

Larry