Listener comments!

5:47pm
: greetings, Mark Hurst!

love the WHSmith image.
greetings, all. here to watch and listen

🤖 ♥ 5:54pm
ultradamno: Mark! Humtonics! 🤖 ♥ 6:01pm
Handy Haversack: Mark! Techyons! 🤖 ♥ 6:01pm
Bas NL: Hi Mark! Hi All! 🤖 ♥ 6:01pm
Wendy del Formaggio: Mark! Everyone else!   6:01pm
Hugo (NL): Hi Mark! Techies! 🤖 ♥ 6:02pm
Will thee SG OCNY: Good evening Mark Hurst and all!!! 🤖 ♥ 6:03pm
Deano de los Muertos: Hey Mark and rest 🤖 ♥ 6:03pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ Song: "Mark's intro"

I'm feeling Medieval Helmet #9 today. I'm pretty smiley, but still self-protective. 6:04pm
joe_rosevear: Hello, techies! 🤖 ♥ 6:05pm
mackeral: hey folks! ♥ 6:07pm
PaulRobeson1924: HiHiHi ♥ 6:07pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:03

I'm going with helmet #5. Almost looks like it is wearing sunglasses. ♥ 6:08pm
Mark Hurst: Welcome to spodiodi, ultra, Handy, Bas, Wendy, Hugo, WtSG, Deano, joe_r, mackeral, and PaulR! Glad you're with us. 🤖 ♥ 6:09pm
tim: Hi Mark and Helen! This book already sounds up my alley. ♥ 6:09pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ tim @6:09

Hi Tim! 🤖 ♥ 6:14pm
ultradamno: Cranked up to 9, always 🤖 ♥ 6:15pm
herb.nyc: Hi all, I just noticed a (new?) subway poster-

We're watching out for your safety
More than 15,000 security cameras are watching the subway system

—Includes many images of what the cameras are seeing. Kinda ominous

♥ 6:16pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ herb.nyc @6:15

But Orwell said that Big Brother had our best interests in mind ♥ 6:17pm
TDK60: Hi Mark. It's been a while since I could be here. 🤖 ♥ 6:18pm
ultradamno: Apple has commercials now where Bella Ramsey bluffs her way through an interview using AI blog.kitcast.tv... ♥ 6:18pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ TDK60 @6:17

Nice to see you again here, TDK   6:19pm
Listener Robert: I like talking to the bunny rambo DJing the Rock & Soul stream.   6:20pm
Listener Robert: And when I feel down, I do tend to pour it out to the bunny. 🤖 ♥ 6:20pm
DjLorraine: Great guest, thank you Mark. ♥ 6:21pm
cosmic matrix: yo yo yo 🤖 ♥ 6:21pm
herb.nyc:

↳ Mark Hurst @6:16

Oh. Orwell. Oh well. 🤖 ♥ 6:21pm
ultradamno: In N. Michigan you can Windsor hum. Well, usetacould www.npr.org... 6:21pm
joe_rosevear: I'm old enough to remember using Eliza. It was creepy and mildly annoying.

Af first compelling, I tired of Eliza after an initial period of fascination. It soon became apparent that Eliza was, actually, stupid.

🤖 ♥ 6:22pm
herb.nyc: Hum. And Hur. ♥ 6:23pm
cosmic matrix:

↳ joe_rosevear @6:21

i remember typing that program into BASIC. lots of DATA statements. yup it was pretty ridiculous. “Please educidate!” 🤖 ♥ 6:23pm
herb.nyc:

↳ joe_rosevear @6:21

Eliza is Apple related? ♥ 6:24pm
cosmic matrix:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:23

*elucidate 🤖 ♥ 6:24pm
Webhamster Henry:

↳ herb.nyc @6:23

not, but there was a pretty early port in "Creative Computing" I think. ELIZA (or "Doctor") was a LISP program. 🤖 ♥ 6:24pm
chresti: Hi Mark and techtonicians!   6:24pm
Listener Robert: I'd've guessed "Hum" to be short for humanoid. ♥ 6:25pm
Mark Hurst: Welcome Robert, DjLorraine, cosmic, webham, and chresti!   6:25pm
Plus So Much More: Ubik! ♥ 6:25pm
cosmic matrix:

↳ Mark Hurst @6:25

hi mark! long-time lurker…..your program is so so so good. ♥ 6:25pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Listener Robert @6:24

That's a good point - I wonder if that was part of the inspiration for the name. 🤖 ♥ 6:25pm
herb.nyc:

↳ Webhamster Henry @6:24

Thx. I know nothing about such ♥ 6:25pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:25

Shucks thanks, cosmic! ♥ 6:28pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ Webhamster Henry @6:24

Back at MIT the emacs install had a "doctor" command that would bring up Eliza. Fun distraction during long coding sessions. (Maybe the command is still there?) 🤖 ♥ 6:31pm
Handy Haversack: The sirens behind Helen just now were scary. "She's said too much -- swarm, swarm, swarm!"   6:31pm
Marie in Chicago: I'm glad I'm a "nobody" who is older now   6:32pm
Fredericks: Philosophize This! had a good episode about Techno-Feudalism recently. 🤖 ♥ 6:32pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ joe_rosevear @6:21

There's a great bit in a David Lodge novel about what happens when Eliza interacts with a narcissistic personality -- a scene that I think has a lot to say about the direction related things have gone in since. ♥ 6:33pm
cosmic matrix: man i remember when apple computers seemed counter-culture and cool. i loved my apple IIe.   6:33pm
Fredericks: Nice to SEE you, Cosmic M.   6:34pm
Fredericks:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:32

That sounds fun. ♥ 6:34pm
cosmic matrix:

↳ Fredericks @6:33

hiya Fredricks!! 🤖 ♥ 6:34pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:33

Got my first job at twelve in order to buy a used one. 🤖 ♥ 6:34pm
mackeral:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:33

I did too, and I was peeved when Mac was all GUI ♥ 6:35pm
cosmic matrix: used to go to B. Dalton in Yonkers just to play on their Apple II+ which had a S.A.M. voice synth! i still remember the SMELL of it all. ♥ 6:36pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY: Good evening, Mark and techies. Been lurking for a bit. ♥ 6:36pm
Mark Hurst: Hi Peter!   6:38pm
?: I've never heard this show but I'm really enjoying it. I'm 14 and the only teen I know who doesn't want or have a phone. I hate it. ♥ 6:38pm
cosmic matrix: mark the ghost writer! ♥ 6:38pm
Mark Hurst:

↳ @6:38

Hey welcome! I admire that choice to stay off the tech.   6:39pm
Fredericks:

↳ @6:38

Sometimes, it gets lonely in the vanguard. ♥ 6:40pm
PaulRobeson1924: Cup of hot ginger tea and a slice of Ezekiel bread, please ♥ 6:41pm
cosmic matrix: great interview for what sounds like a great book 🤖 ♥ 6:42pm
ultradamno: Maybe a dissed topiary novel...they come to life to get back at the people who mocked them dev.mos.cms.futurecdn.net...   6:43pm
Marie in Chicago:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:32

I loved David Lodge's "Small World" ♥ 6:44pm
cosmic matrix: omg that picture. i didn’t even SEE the cameras at first, believe it or not. terrifying. 🤖 ♥ 6:44pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ Marie in Chicago @6:43

I think this was in Small World. That or Nice Work, but I think SW. 🤖 ♥ 6:45pm
tim: Thanks again for the interview, Mark! It appears that my local library does not have Hum nor Helen's other books. Purchase request here I come! ♥ 6:46pm
cosmic matrix:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:44

ok so i’m not the only one who missed them at first 🤖 ♥ 6:46pm
tim:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:44

Yes, the image alone is terrifying. ♥ 6:47pm
PaulRobeson1924: The stalks only want to make sure you and the sweet treats are ok. 🤖 ♥ 6:47pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ tim @6:45

The Need had been on my interest list for a while.   6:47pm
Fredericks: Sounds like Brazil (the movie) to me. ♥ 6:48pm
cosmic matrix: ugh is it happening…? i used to think they’d need to implant a chip in us but this is f*cking close enough.   6:48pm
Matt from OK: One of my favorite literature courses was a class on Utopias/Dystopias. We had to read just about everything falling into that category published up until the late 70s/1980s. I am very interested to read a contemporary interpretation on where we’re at now. 🤖 ♥ 6:48pm
mackeral:

↳ Fredericks @6:47

Brazil is the best. That eye camera thingy bot that has to be batted out of the way... 🤖 ♥ 6:48pm
tim:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:47

Cool! I'll seek it out. 🤖 ♥ 6:49pm
mackeral:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:48

oh it's happening. I saw it in an airport too. Chicago or Zurich, can't remember   6:49pm
Fredericks:

↳ mackeral @6:48

Oh, and I still have crush on the batter. 🤖 ♥ 6:50pm
mackeral:

↳ Fredericks @6:49

of course! ♥ 6:50pm
cosmic matrix: WHAT?! 🤖 ♥ 6:50pm
Noir Lover: What are people going to do with all this time they save not checking out at cash registers? ♥ 6:50pm
cosmic matrix: it’s like somebody in a cardboard box pretending to be a video game 🤖 ♥ 6:50pm
herb.nyc: I went to Gourmet Garage on broadway below canal, nyc. At self chk-out (grr, eliminating human labor) are banks of tv screens that show the area. You turn to avoid one but the other gets you. Fook off! 🤖 ♥ 6:51pm
mackeral:

↳ Noir Lover @6:50

they'll spend their time on hold with AI assistants, as they try and un-screw up their charges   6:51pm
Matt from OK: I can’t stand the self check out system. I’ve noticed this too, how they tend to hover over and profile people. It’s basically a cop/security job. And Walmart is paying fewer people lower wages to do “surveillance work” while we perform the labor... And I really miss chatting with some of the cool, friendly cashiers like Otis and Carrie. For me, there’s no having any polite rapport with someone breathing down my neck when their only function is loss prevention. And they put a disclosure message for that same thing now, warning people their image may be used anyway they might imagine. 🤖 ♥ 6:52pm
tim: Fred G Sanford had it right 50 years ago. Bring your greasy chicken wings on your flight. ♥ 6:52pm
cosmic matrix: the world is beginning to really justify my almost agoraphobic nature   6:52pm
Fredericks:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:50

Love it! 6:52pm
spodiodi: great show. thank you Mark! ♥ 6:53pm
cosmic matrix: those are the kind of connections that help us feel human 🤖 ♥ 6:54pm
Noir Lover: Oh we're going to have to optimize that human connection 🤖 ♥ 6:54pm
tim:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:53

Exactly! 🤖 ♥ 6:54pm
mackeral: and EVERYBODY feels this way already, they just feel helpless as they are corralled along ♥ 6:55pm
sinner: How can you not love Mark Hurst. ♥ 6:55pm
TDK60: Thanks, Mark. 🤖 ♥ 6:56pm
ultradamno: I'm sensing a Taxicab Confessions reboot... 🤖 ♥ 6:56pm
tim: Thank you, Mark!   6:56pm
Fredericks: Panopticon cob. ♥ 6:56pm
bleubombersune: Mark Thank you ♥ 6:56pm
cosmic matrix: waaah this show makes me want to cry. but partially because i’m part of the problem…amazon prime….UGH…i’ve been using them less and less but i’m gonna make a break for it I SWEAR 🤖 ♥ 6:56pm
chresti: Thanks Mark! 🤖 ♥ 6:56pm
mackeral: do the cabs PAY for this service? ♥ 6:57pm
cosmic matrix: eeew 🤖 ♥ 6:57pm
Deano de los Muertos: Great show yet again, Mark   6:57pm
Fredericks: They should pay us for our data. ♥ 6:58pm
cosmic matrix: mark, you are preaching the gospel. THANK U 🤖 ♥ 6:58pm
Handy Haversack: Thanks, Mark, Helen!

Mark, sickness is a sign of health in this case!

🤖 ♥ 6:58pm
Noir Lover: stuck the landing mark ♥ 6:58pm
cosmic matrix: i’m gonna cancel my prime right now. ♥ 6:58pm
Sean Bikes: love you, mark 🤖 ♥ 6:58pm
mackeral: thanks Mark ♥ 6:58pm
cosmic matrix: sorry for the stalks 6:58pm
spodiodi: shut up and shop, everybody ♥ 6:58pm
cosmic matrix: thanks mark ♥ 7:00pm
Mark Hurst: Thanks, everyone! 🤖 ♥ 7:00pm
Bas NL: Thanks Mark! Thanks Helen 7:21pm
joe_rosevear: Thanks everyone who replied to my post about having used Eliza.

Let me explain that that was about 1980. I found and used Eliza on the networked computer system at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology. I was a student, and I spent time in the computer room on a DECwriter terminal doing my Fortran programming assignments.