‘ELIZA,’ the world’s 1st chatbot, was just resurrected from 60-year-old computer code

By Kristina Killgrove published January 17, 2025 Researchers discovered long-lost computer code and used it to resurrect the early chatbot ELIZA. Scientists have just resurrected “ELIZA,” the world’s first chatbot, from long-lost computer code — and it still works extremely well. Using dusty printouts from MIT archives, these “software archaeologists” discovered defunct code that had been lost for 60 years and brought it back to life. ELIZA was developed in the 1960s by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum and named for Eliza Doolittle, the protagonist of the play “Pygmalion,” who was taught how to speak like an aristocratic British woman. As a language model that the user could interact with, ELIZA had a significant impact on today’s artificial intelligence (AI), the researchers wrote in a paper posted to the preprint database arXiv Sunday (Jan. 12). The “DOCTOR” script written for ELIZA was programmed to respond to questions as a psychotherapist would. For example, ELIZA would say, “Please tell me your problem.” If the user input “Men are all alike,” the program would respond, “In what way.” Weizenbaum wrote ELIZA in a now-defunct programming language he invented, called Michigan Algorithm Decoder Symmetric List Processor (MAD-SLIP), but it was almost immediately copied into the language Lisp. With the advent of the early internet, the Lisp version of ELIZA went viral, and the original version became obsolete. Read More At Live Science.

27 Years Later, Stephen King’s Controversial X-Files Episode Is Still Worth Revisiting

With over two decades’ worth of content, not every The X-Files episode will hit home for audiences. The monster-of-the-week series created by Chris Carter has famously had peaks and valleys, particularly following David Duchovny’s departure from The X-Files. But even in its heyday, some episodes have not met the mark, even with the help of a published author. In Season 5, Episode 10, entitled “Chinga,” prolific horror writer Stephen King wrote an episode for the series. In classic horror fashion, the episode follows the activities of the titular evil doll in the hands of a young girl named Polly. Naturally, misfortune follows her wherever she goes. King was a fan of the series at the time and had expressed an interest in writing an episode. Despite his pop culture presence, “Chinga” is not always viewed favorably. Many fans have decried that the concept is tired, and Mulder and Scully were written out of character. But with three decades to ruminate on the episode, there are still some moments worth turning in for. Scully Gets to Work Her Own Case The X-Files is largely defined by the push and pull between its two lead actors. Mulder and Scully arguably defined the male-female partnership that became so prevalent in procedurals down the line. Mulder’s belief in the occult contradicts Scully’s skepticism and works wonderfully until the rare occasion when they come together. But now and then, fans are due for a shake-up. Even though Mulder is relegated to barely a supporting role in the episode, Scully gets the chance…

Trump Names ‘Special Ambassadors’ to Hollywood

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named three well-known actors to be his special envoys to “very troubled” Hollywood. Trump selected Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone to serve as his special ambassadors with the goal of reviving the center of the entertainment industry. “It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE! “These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!” Voight, 86, who won an Academy Award for best actor with his role as a paraplegic Vietnam War veteran in “Coming Home,” has been a strong Trump supporter. Days before the Nov. 5 election, Gibson, 69, revealed his support for Trump by saying what life would be like under a President Kamala Harris. “I know what it’ll be like if we let her in. And that ain’t good. Miserable track record. No policies to speak of. She’s got the IQ of a fence post,” Gibson told photographers in late October, TMZ reported. Stallone, 78, best known for creating and portraying the fighter Rocky Balboa, joined Trump for a Thanksgiving Day feast at Mar-a-Lago.…

Call: The ‘Escape From L.A.’ Movie (1996) Was A F****ing Documentary!

THIS IS JUST TO MUCH LIKE THE MAUI FIRES & HURRICANE HELENE! LAND GRABS! Escape from L.A. (stylized on-screen as John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A.) is a 1996 American post-apocalyptic action film co-written, co-scored, and directed by John Carpenter, co-written and produced by Debra Hill and Kurt Russell, with Russell also starring as Snake Plissken. A sequel to Escape from New York (1981), Escape from L.A. co-stars Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Bruce Campbell, Peter Fonda, and Pam Grier. Escape from L.A. failed to meet the studio’s expectations at the box office and received polarized reactions from critics.[5][6] The film later found a strong cult following.[7][8][9][10] Plot [edit] In 2000, a massive earthquake strikes the city of Los Angeles, cutting it off from the mainland as the San Fernando Valley floods. Declaring that God is punishing Los Angeles for its sins, a theocratic presidential candidate wins election to a lifetime term of office. He orders the United States capital relocated from Washington, D.C. to his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia and enacts a series of strict morality laws, banning such things as smoking, alcohol, drugs, premarital sex, firearms, profanity, and red meat. Violators are given a choice between loss of U.S. citizenship and permanent deportation to the new Los Angeles Island, or repentance and death by electrocution. Escape from the island is made impossible due to a containment wall erected along the mainland shore and a heavy federal police presence monitoring the area. By 2013, the U.S. has developed a superweapon known as the “Sword of Damocles,” a satellite system capable of targeting electronic devices anywhere in the world and rendering them useless. The president intends to use it to dominate the world by destroying hostile nations’ ability to function.…

Was Marilyn Manson right? Sex and dope is all that we’re fed!

I think people were completely wrong about Marilyn Manson! I think he was giving a warning with most of his songs! People made him out to be evil and Satanic?!? But, people forget he always said he was a performance artist! And yes he was honorably made a member of the church of Satan but, if you really look at the church of Satan or at least the one he was part of, was opened by Anton Szandor LaVey, was mostly of a theatrical nature! And the Church of Satan High Priest Peter Gilmore offered clarification “[Manson’s] a member who has been given an honorary priesthood. But his own music is his own art. His stage shows are his own, and they don’t really exemplify Satanism in particular.” Also, even Sammy Davis Junior and Jayne Mansfield were members of this Church of Satan! It really isn’t what people think it is! Their not the ones sacrificing babies and molesting children! Read More: Church of Satan Clarifies Marilyn Manson’s Role | More below! When you look at the actual lyrics of his songs and that he joined a prayer group with Justin Bieber & Kanye West for a Sunday Service prayer in Nov. 1, 2021 you get a completely different picture of him and what he’s trying to say! Also, Manson’s father was Catholic, and his mother was Episcopal and he attended a Christian school because his parents wanted him to get a better education. When you look at Antichrist Superstar it is actually…