Boffin rediscovers 1960s attempt to write fiction with computers

Paul Bellow · Aug 30, 2017

Next time IBM tries to convince you that Watson is the latest and greatest innovation that couldn't possibly have been done any time other than now, know that Big Blue tried to get a computer writing short stories in the 1960s.

The existence of IBM's old work has been re-discovered by James Ryan of the University of California Santa Cruz, who found old documentation of work by one Joseph E Grimes to make an IBM Model 650 spin yarns. Here's a sample of its output:

A LION HAS BEEN IN TROUBLE FOR A LONG TIME. A DOG STEALS SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO THE LION. THE HERO, LION, KILLS THE VILLAIN, DOG, WITHOUT A FIGHT. THE HERO, LION, THUS IS ABLE TO GET HIS POSSESSION BACK.

The story of the story-generator is more interesting than the story the generator tells. In his paper, Ryan explains that Grimes' work dates back to the early 1960s.
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

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Boffin rediscovers 1960s attempt to write fiction with computers

Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

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