Weizenbaum (not Mintzberg, these German names all seem the same to me ) developed the one of the first "chatterbot" programs, having it use the Rogerian analysis technique of largely repeating what has been said by the interlocutor as a response. Pattern-matching, in other words. I have now LIUed it. If you're interested in this kind of stuff, go to:

http://www.crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/AIsites.htm

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who's tried out "Dirty ELIZA, the X-Rated Psychotherapist". Possibly just Sigmund Freud starting up practice again!

Urban legend: ELIZA mimicked a pyschoanalyst. Once when Weizenbaum came back from a meeting or lunch, his secretary was busy typing on the computer and ignored him. When he asked what she was doing, she said "Please go away, I'm consulting ELIZA!" ...


The idiot also known as Capfka ...