Eliza (Original version)

This is a recreation of the original 'Eliza' running the 'Doctor' script

The original ELIZA was written at MIT by Joseph Weizenbaum in SLIP (Symmetric LIst Processor) between 1964 and 1966 as a "A Computer Program For the Study of Natural Language Communication Between Man And Machine" and later rewritten in Lisp (List Processor). It is a very early example of what is now known as a "chat bot". A paper, written by Weizenbaum, describing Eliza and including the 'Doctor' script may be seen at http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/572/S02/weizenbaum.eliza.1966.pdf

Weizenbaum said that ELIZA, running the 'Doctor' script, provided a "parody" of the responses of a nondirectional psychotherapist in an initial psychiatric interview.

ELIZA was named after Eliza Doolittle, a working-class character in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, who is taught to speak with an upper-class accent.

This version is based on the original script as shown in Weizenbaum's paper. We have tried to ensure that this version acts exactly like the original. It uses essentially the same script and follows the same rules as described in Weizenbaum's paper. The only recorded conversation with the original Eliza that we have found is the one appearing in his paper and our version will duplicate that conversation.

The ONLY deviations ("improvements"??) I have incorporated are:

- The original only used upper case characters in the response. I have used upper and lower case (thanks to our modern computer systems).
- The original did not allow the use of a "?" in the input as it had a special meaning to the IBM 7094 MAC time sharing system that was used for the original. My version allows the use of any desired punctuation (or no punctuation at all).
- I have included some commands to terminate a session with ELIZA (bye, goodbye, quit) as well as a response to this from ELIZA. I have no information on how a session was terminated in the original and the original script does not seem to include any response for this.

Also, ELIZA works well even if your input is all lower case characters and is missing most punctuation.

Since Eliza is a non-directive therapist, you have to carry the conversation, nevertheless, that can lead to some mighty interesting results. Although her English is not always the best, you can have very interesting conversations with her.

This version is ad free.

Visit the developer's web site (http://www.cyberspyder.com/Android/Eliza2.html) for more details.

If you enjoy Eliza, please leave us a good review. If you run into any problems, please contact us so we can resolve any issues.