Joe Weizenbaum, the creator of one of the earliest examples of Artificial Intelligence, has died. Weizenbaum created ELIZA, the “virtual therapist”, which I’ve played around with in various implementations over the years. It inspired me to investigate Lisp, so for that reason alone I hold Weizenbaum in high regard.

“A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be much different from what you had in mind”

cyclotram: Joe Weizenbaum dead at 85. ELIZA in denial.