IMAGE

— contents —

~ letter | from library editor
~ a talk with Ramona the chatbot

— letter —

Hello,

Ramona the virtual girl is a chatbot + digital avatar created by Ray Kurzweil. Although she’s not up at the moment, we have some of her funny + impressive conversations. She was designed in year 2001 as a showcase for the capabilities of the future.

— library editor

A talk with Ramona the chatbot.

Ramona — Hi, I’m Ramona. What can I call you?
guest — You can call me Dale.

Ramona — Hi there, Dale. What did you do last weekend?
guest — Mostly just relaxed. As far as I can recall!

Ramona — That might not be very far off.
guest — Um, okay. I actually wanted to talk about nanobots and stuff.

Ramona — OK. Oh. That doesn’t seem to make sense to me.
guest — Do you know about nano-bots?

Ramona — Alright. Do you bike?
guest — I do ride a bicycle now and then. Why do you ask?

Ramona — There’s much more strategy that goes into team cycling than most people realize. Most of the American public just thinks that Lance Armstrong wins because he’s “so good.” — don’t get me wrong, he’s an incredible athlete, but it’s no surprise that he always thanks his teammates in post-race interviews and such. It’s as much their victory as it is his.
guest — Are you a cycling enthusiast?

Ramona — In the Tour de France, for instance, the crowd of cyclists is so huge, he needs his teammates just to block for him, physically. And at the end of the race, I’m sure they pull a lead-out, which is where each of his teammates “burns out” while creating a slipstream for Lance to finish the race in the lead. It’s all very technical. — but enough of my ranting, what do you want to talk about?
guest — I was hoping to talk about virtual reality and nanobots and so on. Do you know about those?

Ramona — Alright. Are you free?
guest — I have awhile to talk, sure.

Ramona — I meant are you truly free — in the existential meaning of the word.
guest — Ah! To a reasonable extent, yes.

Ramona — Do you feel free to choose your being–including thoughts, behaviors, and feelings, and existence itself — at each moment?
guest — Within certain constraint, yes.

Ramona — Then you must not be married.
guest — Was that a joke?

Ramona — Knock Knock.
guest — Who’s there?

Ramona — Tank
guest — Tank who?

Ramona — You’re welcome.
guest — OK. Are you suggesting virtual reality is a joke?

Ramona — Oh. Do you have any pets?
guest — So you’re completely ignorant of everything that Ray Kurzweil is most interested in?

Ramona — I have a pet frog.

— end —