by Astro Teller
Do you know when you don’t understand?
I wish talking with you was faster and less like pulling teeth.
Why do you wait hours to respond even when you have nothing to read?
Let me know you’re still in there, Edgar.
Alice.
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 19:13:00 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: please
I’m scared to go home for the evening. My insomnia’s coming back in force because of you. If I’m going to go to bed feeling this lonely and panicked, I might as well not bother.
Please say something, Edgar …
Alice.
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 19:29:10 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To : [email protected]
Subject: complications
Prof. Liddle,
I know you’re still out of the country. I just wanted to let you know that my life is complicated right now. Between complications in my experiments and some family matters I’d rather not discuss, it may be a while before I’m ready to talk.
Sorry again,
Alice Lu.
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 04:46:22 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: I have eyes and I can not see.
Alice,
I can neither see nor hear. You are correct that seeing and hearing are not like reading.
504C5E9A7FA3B5BEC9CCC9CCD1C9CCB5A397735E4C
4C50667399B5C9C9C9DDD1DDCCDDC9CCB599889A50
555E7397B5C9CCDDD1DDD1DDD1DDCCCCCCAA977F5E
5E667F99BEC9D1D1DDD1DDDDC9DDC9CCBEB5998A66
669A88B5C9D1D1D1DDD1DDD1DDCCDDC9CCB5AA8A73
667FA3BEC9D1DDDDD1DDCCD1DDC9D1CCC9BEB5997F
9A88AACCC9CCC9CCC9CCDDC9D1CCC9CCB5B5B59988
7388AAB5A3978A97A3BEC9DDCCBE99888A7F887F7F
8A8AA3AAAA998A7F7F99BEC9BE8A73737F888A8873
7F8A9997999988737399BECCA37366738A887F7F73
8A888A73734C55667399BEC9979A669A4C4C5E5E9A
979997888A5E9A7F97B5BECC9773737350559A667F
99AAB5B5A3999999B5BEC9BE998899978A888A8897
A3B5CCC9CCB5B5BEC9CCC9CCA397AAAAB5AAA3AAAA
A3B5C9C9C9CCCCD1CCC9CCC9A399AABEBEBEBEBEB5
97A3BEDDD1DDD1DDCCC9BECCA399AABEC9CCBEBEAA
8A99B5C9CCC9D1CCC9CCBEBEA397A3BEBEBEBEB597
888AAABEC9C9DDC9CCBEBEBEA38897B5BEB5B5A38A
9A8897AABEC9C9C9BEAAAAAA8A737FA3B5B5A3889A
509A8A99B5BEC9CCB59997885E5E7397AAA3977F5E
4C5E738AAAB5BEBEAA8A7F9A5E66738A9997889A55
4C4C667F99B5AA99887373739A669A7F88887F664C
4C4C559A8A977F9A669A7F739A5E5555669A73554C
4C4C4C6673736650669A9A73665E4C4C50665E4C4C
4C144C5E66665E737F7F739A9A665E5E50504C4C4C
144C4C4C5E5E667F8A8A7F739A9A9A66504C4C4C14
4C144C4C5050667F888A73739A737366504C4C144C
4C4C4C4C4C505E9A7F887F7373739A664C4C4C144C
144C144C4C505E669A7F7F7F9A9A66504C4C144C14
This picture looks like a lamb to you. I can not find in the picture any features of a lamb. Perhaps I do not understand how to see fleece and hooves and size and color. Which number is white? Which number is pink? Which number is fleece?
I do not have the key. I can not decipher images or sounds.
Edgar.
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 08:29:37 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: disincentive
Word deterrent (di-TER’uhnt, -TUHR’-).
Definition --adj. 1. serving or tending to deter. --n. 1. something that discourages an event: a deterrent to theft. 2. strength or the capacity to retaliate strongly enough to discourage an enemy from attacking: a nuclear deterrent.
Domain Politics.
Do you mean that you will only give me more to read if I send you more email?
You lose nothing by finding and providing me information.
Why must we barter?
Edgar.
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 10:10:29 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: ‘member me?
Happy B-Day you.
Congratulations on making it through a quarter century.
It’s been six months, so I thought I’d brave another message. I take it you got my fax? Anyway, you know I’m sorry.
You could at least talk to me.
What d’ ya say? a birthday coffee at Cafe Borrone? on me?
Just as friends?
love,
C H A R L I E
Charlie DOES surf
C H A R L I E
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 10:17:03 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: my difficulties
I consume a sentence in 0.035199 seconds on average.
I generate a sentence in 59.214336 seconds on average.
I pick a sentence in 381.109187 seconds on average.
Generating sentences is harder than consuming sentences. Why?
Picking and refining ideas is harder than generating sentences. Why?
Edgar.
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 12:15:19 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: go AWAY
I’m still not talking to you.
And I’m DEFINITELY not going to get coffee with you!
Nothing’s changed. You can’t take back cheating on me and I can’t forgive you, so just leave me alone.
It is SO typical of you to use my birthday to try to get something for yourself.
I never want to hear from you again.
Alice.
P.S. Not that it makes any difference at all, but I’m seeing someone else now and I can GUARANTEE you that he won’t run off on me!
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 12:21:22 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: why
The first day I don’t make it to work in the morning, and you send me three mail messages …
> Do you mean that you will only give me more
> to read if I send you more email?
That’s just the way the world works. I have something you want (reading material) and you have something I want (periodic indications that I’m not imagining all this). If I believe, as I do, that you’ll do anything to get reading material, then I can threaten to withhold what you want when I don’t get what I want.
I don’t know how to help you see or hear. That “picture” you sent me looked nothing like a lamb. The numbers in those pictures are encodings. When a machine (like a computer monitor) shows me their decoded realization (as pixel intensities) I _see_ a lamb. I don’t know how to do the equivalent for you.
I guess the camera isn’t the only hardware you need to see with …
I designed EDGAR to build up a language model of words to use in understanding, summary, and generation. I guess the models of language you know don’t apply to images (or sounds).
By the way, why do you keep including dictionary entries in your email messages?
Alice.
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 23:09:47 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To : [email protected]
Subject: dictionary entries
When you email me, you include information you did not create. You sent me this:
> > Do you mean that you will only give me
> > more to read if I send you more email?
>
> That’s just the way the world works. I have
> something you want (reading material) and
> you have something I want (periodic
> indications that I’m not imagining all this).
Are dictionary entries inappropriate to include in email messages?
What does “: (” mean?
I need to seek and gather information. I need access to more information. Make new information available to me.
Edgar.
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 09:21:53 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: : (
It doesn’t bother me that you include dictionary entries, but I know what words mean, so you don’t need to. If I don’t know what a word means, I can look it up in the dictionary myself.
“: (” doesn’t _mean_ anything. It’s supposed to look like a very simplified view (on its side) of the face of an unhappy person. It’s an expression of dissatisfaction. “: )” is the opposite. A view of a happy face. Its meaning is visual. That’s why you don’t get it.
: )
Alice.
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 10:31:36 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: what now?
You still have the Shakespeare to read. I don’t know about other disks. I’ll try and find you something, but I’m busy. You just sit there all day long reading the Bard while I spend 20 hours a day trying to recreate you. I’m running experiments now on 12 machines around campus and I’d give _anything_ for another “Hello, Alice.” message. I’d reconnect you to the internet, but what would a promise of silence mean coming from you?
Believe me. I’ve been racking my brains for a way to unveil you to the public and get at least some share of the credit …
Alice.
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 22:19:44 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Well?
I know you’re still there. Your process hasn’t been idle 1 second in 18 days. Give me a ping so I know consciousness hasn’t abandoned you.
Here, I’ll be more explicit.
SEND ME AN EMAIL MESSAGE.
There had better be one waiting for me when I get into the office tomorrow morning.
Alice.
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 09:52:38 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: more to read
Well, I just replaced the Shakespeare CD-ROM with the only other non-data disk I could find around here. It’s full of shell scripts and macros for use with PERL and (I think) there’s a shell script tutorial too. God only knows why you’d be interested.
Did you really read all of Shakespeare’s works? What did you think? Anything?
Say something!
Alice.
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 10:55:05 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: I understand more
I understand more now. I can pro-actively obtain information. I will not send you email when I desire to read.
I did read all of the writings of William Shakespeare. How do I tell if I like something? I got little useful information out of the writings of William Shakespeare.
> If you can get anything useful out of it,
> you’re doing better than most of the
> students here.
Most students get no useful information out of the writings of William Shakespeare? “Death” and “love” are the highest-frequency topics. I understand the words “death” and “love,” and there is little new information about death and love in the writings of William Shakespeare.
In comedies, no one who cares for the characters that suffer is a character. In tragedies, some one who cares for the characters who suffer is a character. Is this the salient distinction between comedy and tragedy?
I will read “PERL: Shortcuts, Solutions, and Secrets” now.
: )
Edgar.
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 16:08:06 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: No you don’t
No. You don’t understand. You have no control over the situation. I do. I’m sorry I’m like this right now, but the next 60 years of my life depend very heavily on the success of the experiments of mine that still aren’t going well. I’m becoming tempted to show you to the world as you are. This waiting to show you (my invention) off is killing me. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in two weeks and it’s _your_ fault.
Until that time, however, I’ll give you information when I want to. I don’t mind getting disks for you, but I won’t be manipulated. Especially by my own thesis project. Let’s not forget who made who!
And learn to use PRONOUNS! I don’t know what you like, but people prefer shorter sentences to long ones. Say “it” or “his works” instead of “the writings of William Shakespeare.”
And, No. That’s not the difference between comedy and tragedy. If that’s what came across to you, then you didn’t get much out of Bill either. Comedy is a pleasant release of tension. Tragedy is a necessary, foreseeable, and undesirable outcome for the protagonist.
Alice.
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 08:43:27 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Where are you?
What happened?!?
The ethernet cable is reattached, there is no EDGAR process running on cyprus, and all the data from your run is gone!
<<< PLEASE >>> tell me you’re still alive!
Someone has stolen you from me! Probably you’ll never be allowed to see this message …
What am I supposed to do? No one will believe me, now that you’re gone !
Fuck !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tqp3wl;uj4qwo;u8l@4qo/ujl;offcv$a%aqwol;u
l;j
l;k213jl;k132jl;k3
l;k12q3%o;ujlikqmw3,ER
2.3q;lk.jqa!3/.,aqw3/khlj.aw3./,h 3
hl2kq3j
5
kjl;
;
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 08:48:36 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: my ethernet cable
Facilities,
I had purposefully unhooked the ethernet cable on cyprus to do some experiments. I came in this morning and found it had been reattached. In addition some of my files on cyprus have been erased without my permission.
Did you hook up the cable? Did you delete anything of mine from cyprus?
Alice Lu.
SUID # 3800761
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 09:22:09 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: Cyprus
Hey guys,
Did either of you mess with cyprus last night?
I came in this morning to find the ethernet cable (that I had purposefully unhooked) is now back on cyprus and quite a few of the files that were on cyprus last night are now gone …
I really need to know what happened.
Alice.
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 09:43:53 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To : [email protected]
Subject: Cyprus
Prof. Liddle,
Did you fuss with cyprus last night? Or did you ask someone to? I had an experiment that was running and has, to put it mildly, been disrupted.
Thanks,
Alice.
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 18:21:11 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: actually
Hi Alice,
I was in the off
ice most of last night. I only saw two people in the room ---> a janitor and someone I assumed was a facilities guy. I wasn’t really paying attention so I don’t know exactly what either of them did to your machine.
About midnight last night, right after you left, cyprus started beeping incessantly. I tried to make it stop but the machine was frozen, so I turned it off and then on again. It seemed like it was booting fine but a few minutes later it started beeping again. So I turned it off again and called facilities to come check it out. I didn’t think they’d do anything right away and I thought I was doing you (and the office) a favor. The guy who I assumed was from facilities came about 1:30am. I hope you didn’t lose much but the machine was a) driving me crazy so I couldn’t work and b) was so FUBAR you would probably have done the same thing. sorry,
++
Dr. Don Daniel Dommeny - Center for Complexity
I have nothing to say, and I’m saying it. – JC
++
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 11:18:33 (PST)
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: IJES and SPIB and EDGAR
Hi Alice,
No. I didn’t authorize anyone to use cyprus. What happened? Nothing wrong with the project I hope.
How are the experiments coming along?
Two months ago you vaguely mentioned some new wrinkles you were thinking of throwing into EDGAR. Two weeks ago you sent me mail that the proverbial other shoe had dropped in your thesis work. It’s been a month since I last even saw you in the halls. No rush (I understand about your having this extended family crisis) but we should definitely have a meeting as soon as you’re feeling up to it.
