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LJ Cohen
Moderator
Username: ljc

Post Number: 3118
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 7:25 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Check out my blog entry on this--I'd be interested in your take on it.

http://ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com/#112934295470418619

best,
ljc
http://ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com/
M
Board Administrator
Username: mjm

Post Number: 5500
Registered: 11-1998
Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 8:04 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Oh, good -- now they're going to replace us with software. *LOL*

Poetry? No, it's just some disconnected images and what someone has decided are poetic words and phrases all strung together. Unfortunately, while there might be a "brain" behind it, it has no "heart." You can get a machine to replicate thought processes to some degree, but as yet, it cannot replicate human emotion. And without emotion, it's just pretty words on a page.

What did strike me was how similar it is to some poetry I've read on the net and that we get in submissions to Stirring. That poetry that "sounds" good, but doesn't have much meaning that you can discern and no clear message. Like it's trying to make some point, but you can't for the life of you figure out what it might be. Or is so vanilla as to bend to whatever interpretation the reader wants to give it. While I do think there should be some reader contribution to the experience of poetry, you can't put the whole onus on the reader. The writer has to "say" something concrete in exchange for reader effort.

So, in conclusion, I'm not too worried about this software as something that might supplant me. Nor do I consider its "writing" all that good. I think it's a cute parlor trick, but as for substantive writing, it gets a grade of F from me.

Love,
M

"A-Bear"
Moderator
Username: dane

Post Number: 1408
Registered: 11-1998
Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 8:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Lisa --read it. I often say I'll take whatever help I can get; however, after reading the computer generated version of poetry, sorry, I'll look elsewhere for help. Too abstract for my personal taste. I suppose it could be used to jump start an idea but all the same, it's a little like having sex without anyone but yourself to share it with. And believe me, I know what I'm talking about - one year this month and still no help in that area. Oh, lot's of computer generated stuff, sure. Still, it's just not the same. Call me a traditionalist, I suppose. *LOL*

D (as in, old-fashioned poetry lover)
Emusing
Moderator
Username: emusing

Post Number: 1983
Registered: 08-2003
Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 - 10:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

It's a similar principle to computer generated grooves rather than learning to read and write music and honest composition. Yes there are plenty of successful groove makers but whose work will be remembered in the next century?

Having said that, there were a few phrases in the computer generated poetry I found interesting. I would never allow a computer to compose for me but for the sake of unusual phrasing that could trigger something within the poet, it's kinda interesting.

E
Kathy Paupore
Senior Member
Username: kathy

Post Number: 2628
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Saturday, October 15, 2005 - 7:27 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Lisa, cyber poetry would be something worth entering at poetry.com.

:-) K
Gary Blankenship
Senior Member
Username: garyb

Post Number: 5174
Registered: 07-2001
Posted on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 1:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

the program has already won poetry.com

smiles.

Gary
The Eye of the Coming Storm
http://www.mindfirerenew.com/
LJ Cohen
Moderator
Username: ljc

Post Number: 3120
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 1:51 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Poetry.com? LOL! Gary--do you have a link for that? I'd love to add it to my blog entry.

Glad I could make you guys laugh.

Best,
ljc
http://ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com/
marty
Advanced Member
Username: marty

Post Number: 677
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 9:18 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Lisa,
I agree with what M said....poetry is felt by the heart, or should be felt by the heart. On first reading well I was of the opinion that the poem was interesting enough....I would dare say that if anyone had the guts to place his/her name on it and post the poem it would get a fair amount of comments too. Perhaps the parameters set by the programmer was such that the software can detect patterns in the words, but the fact remains, the computer cannot detect meaning, or figures of speech. The human mind, and the human heart has an algorithm that defies every known statistical correlations.

Oh and yes, poetry.com would be most interested to print a copy of that poem for a fee LOL. Perhaps poetry.com should have a free download of that software, and their website banner should read;(as a press release)

"Download for free and get published"

"We at poetry.com sincerely believe in the talent of the human spirit, and we also believe that the heart aches to express itself. We have the right tool to help you discover your innermost poetry, best of all its free. Now, when you have produced a poem we would gladly print it for you in an anthology, for a minimal fee. Imagine, being a published poet in less than three hours after download, if that aint a literary success, well, what is?"

Cheers Brethren