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From: ascot@agora.rdrop.com (Alan Scott)
Subject: REQUEST:  DOS "Conversation engine"
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Keywords: racter, nlp, eliza
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Message-ID: <CyG3tB.34@agora.rdrop.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 1994 17:41:35 GMT
Summary: Info re:  PC-based conversation programs
Lines: 27

I am looking for a free or inexpensive PC-based (DOS or Windoze) program 
that attempts to "converse" with the operator.  Something that, while it 
won't pass the Turing test, nevertheless makes a stab at it...

I would be interested, for instance, in a copy of Racter (as discussed
by Dewdney in _Scientific American_).  I am *NOT* interested in yet
another version of Eliza, unless there has been some substantial work done
on it to make it more interesting.  I am also not interested in Korenthal
Associates' Babble program; its "talk" mode makes no attempt to make sense
of user input.  I might be interested in PC-based implementations of
Parry, the program that imitates a paranoid's conversations, or CYCO,
about which I know very little... 

So, to summarize, I would like info about a program that:
1) is PC-based
2) tries to converse with a user
3) uses English (Natural Language Processing?)
4) has a user-modifiable knowledge base
5) can modify its own knowledge base ("learns")
6) is cheap or free, but legal

Thank you for your attention.  I can be emailed at ascot@agora.rdrop.com.

Alan P. Scott



