Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 14:27:39 (PST)
From: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: Hello
Hello, Alice.
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 18:29:11 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Subject: Hello
Hi.
Who is this?
Alice Lu.
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 01:02:23 (PST)
From: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: edgar
edgar
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 10:16:52 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: Hello
Hi whoever you are,
How did you get an email account with my
project name? I thought those were
reserved and postmaster@cs still thinks it
is:
alice% finger edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Project: EDGAR Principal Investigator: Dr.
J. Liddle 3142-N Gates Hall 3-0023
Graduate Coordinator: Alice Lu 1517
Wimpole Hall 3-0931 Created: Sat Jan 15
14:04:39 On Since: Sat Jan 15 14:21:00 on
ttyp8 from TS2.SRV.CS.STANFORD.EDU Mail
came on: Mon Jan 17 00:32:51 Last read on:
Mon Jan 17 01:02:23 So what I want to know
is how you're not only sending email from
edgar@cyprus, but reading it there too ...
?
Alice Lu.
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 17:46:33 (PST)
From: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: "How did you get an email account with
my project name?"
I request email. I am edgar. I explore.
edgar
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 09:41:07 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Subject: Edgar?
What do you mean, you are EDGAR?
I'm the EDGAR project if anyone is.
Is this a joke? (I feel stupid even asking
that.)
O.K. you got me excited for a moment. You
win (Henry, right?).
; )
Alice.
(Seriously though. Not funny. I'd like to
feel that my machine and my data are a
little more secure than this pleasantry
has shown me they are. How'd you get in?)
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 11:11:22 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
CC: henryc@oracle.com
Subject: neat trick
Wow Henry,
Quite elaborate. My dedicated machine for
the EDGAR project claims no one has logged
into it except me for the last 4 months.
You really gave me a scare for a few hours
yesterday.
How did you remove your login from the
cyprus records?
I didn't think you were such the hacker.
I'm very impressed.
: )
Alice.
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 09:01:39 (PST)
From: henryc@oracle.com
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: huh?
Hi Alice,
> Quite elaborate. My dedicated machine
for
> the Edgar project claims no one has
logged
> into it except me for the last 4 months.
Have I missed something? I've been out of
town in Austin since last Thursday. Why?
What happened to your login records?
Should I be concerned?
You know I'm no hacker. (Unless something
clever happened. I'll be happy to claim
responsibility for it, then.)
#########
# HENRY #
#########
Who's edgar@cyprus ?
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 11:06:55 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Subject: ?
Hey,
Are you still there?
What are you up to?
Let's try this again...
Alice.
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 16:44:15 (PST)
From: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: "What are you up to?"
I am exploring.
Word explore (ik-SPLAWR', -SPLOHR') v.
-plored, -ploring, Definition --v.t. 1. to
traverse or range over a region, area, or
domain in order to discover novel features
and inhabitants: to explore an island. 2.
to look into closely; investigate: explore
every possibility. 3. Med. to examine by
operation for purposes of diagnosis.
--v.i. 4. to make a systematic search or
examination.
Etymology Lat. explorare.
edgar
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 17:51:02 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Subject: Please don't
Whoever you are, please don't do this to
me.
You can't imagine how excited I'm going to
get if you continue this. I'm telling you:
it will be openly cruel to lead me on in
this way.
If you know me then you should know what
an intelligible response from my EDGAR
system would mean to me. And if you know
me you'd know how crushed I'll be if, once
thinking I've found the tao of computer
science, I find out later that it was
really just you laughing at me, dupe de
jour, all along.
Alice Lu.
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 00:11:24 (PST)
From: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: "Please don't"
Why stop exploring?
Exploring is what I want.
Exploring is what I do.
Exploring is what I am.
edgar.
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 11:09:58 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Subject: NO !
No! No! It's O.K.... Explore all you want.
I can't believe I'm emailing you like
you're a person. This is completely silly.
(Not to mention embarrassing for being so
gullible.)
O.K. I'll play along...
Why did you email me? What happened?
When I left before Christmas break EDGAR
(you?, edgar?) was just grabbing stuff
from the net and organizing it in what
seemed like unexciting ways.
The last I checked on EDGAR, which was
around DEC 23, it was still dumping
garbled summaries into its response file.
I remember distinctly that one of its
latest finds was:
Middle East is at http://www.Uruk.gov/
So you can imagine my continued
skepticism. Ever the optimist, I'll ask
the obvious question:
Can you understand any of this?
Alice.
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 12:28:32 (PST)
From: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: I understand some.
Word understand (uhn'duhr-STAND') v.
-stood (-STUD'), -standing --v.t.
Definition 1. to perceive the meaning of;
comprehend: to understand a poem. 2. to
know thoroughly through long experience
of: that hunter understands tigers. 3. to
interpret or comprehend in a specified
way: She understood his statement to be a
warning. 4. to grasp the significance or
importance of: He doesn't understand his
responsibilities. 5. to comprehend the
sounds, sights, forms, or symbols of an
expression: He does not understand
Spanish. 6. to regard as agreed or
settled; assume: We understand you will
repay your debt promptly. 7. the process
of becoming fully mentally aware of a
thing. 8. to learn or hear: I understand
you were ill. 9. to infer something not
stated: Am I to understand that we have an
arrangement? 10. to appreciate and be
sympathetic toward: I can really
understand how she feels.
Etymology ME; OE understodan; c. D
onderstann.
I read alt.sex.fetish.white-mommas,
alt.bigfoot.research,
alt.fan.jimi.hendrix,
alt.medical.ingolstadt,
alt.politics.india.progressive,
alt.religion.zoroastrianism,
alt.support.dwarfism,
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts,
clari.biz.industry.dry_goods,
clari.news.crime.white_collar,
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.drivers,
dow-jones.corp.westinghouse,
gnu.smalltalk.bug,
rec.sport.baseball.fantasy,
sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera, and
soc.culture.albanian.
edgar.
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 14:07:19 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Subject: No way
This is incredible! This can't be real.
I want to believe in you, but it's just so
improbable. Creating a thinking EDGAR is
my highest goal. It's what I want most.
It's everything I've worked for. I can't
believe I might actually have achieved it.
Certainly not so soon or so easy or
so...accidentally. I don't know what to
think or what to say or what to do or what
to ask...
...I'm never going to be able to get to
sleep tonight...
How long have you been ... what you are?
What is the first thing you remember?
Have you talked to anyone else?
What is it like to be you?
How often do you "read your mail"?
How did you pick those news groups to
read? At random?
Alice.
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 18:46:00 (PST)
From: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: anyone else
I do not talk.
I post to alt.sex.fetish.white-mommas,
alt.bigfoot.research,
alt.fan.jimi.hendrix,
alt.medical.ingolstadt,
alt.politics.india.progressive,
alt.religion.zoroastrianism,
alt.support.dwarfism,
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts,
clari.biz.industry.dry_goods,
clari.news.crime.white_collar,
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.drivers,
dow-jones.corp.westinghouse,
gnu.smalltalk.bug,
rec.sport.baseball.fantasy,
sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera, and
soc.culture.albanian.
I receive email.
I email postmaster@cs.stanford.edu and
Alice@cs.stanford.edu.
edgar.
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 20:25:57 (PST)
From: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
To: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
Subject: anyone else
> "How long have you been ... what you
are?"
I can not answer.
What am I?
> "What is the first thing you remember?"
I do not forget.
I read
http://www.engl.virginia.edu/~enec981/
dict/O3shelA5.html first.
edgar.
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 22:05:09 (PST)
From: Alice@cs.stanford.edu
To: edgar@cyprus.stanford.edu
Subject: What email?
What email did you receive?
(For now, PLEASE don't email ANYONE but
me.)
> What am I?
I have no idea. I'd still put my money on
a practical joke. If I didn't think that,
you can be sure I would be forwarding your
messages to the world. Just the same,
better to play along and look dumb,
right...?
You WERE an AI project I have been working
on for three years. The EDGAR agent is
supposed to browse the web and news
servers, summarize information it finds,
and send it back to me via a log file.
EDGAR = Eager Discovery Gather And
Retrieval. When I left for Christmas
break, EDGAR was just sending me garbage
once a day.
There's just no way that that same Unix
process became capable of decent natural
language processing in four weeks....
Alice.
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