"Did computer generated 'high-entropy essays' have a life after 1968?"
Brent MacGregor, 2002.
ESSAY:
effectively functions electrons emerge from the binding energy
by permutation antisymmetrical waves have a mean free path using the Mathieus equation
effectively metal fermions define the crystal structure
in periodic lattices normal modes consist of normal coordinates and
on the contrary degrees of freedom can be calculated like Planck oscillators
by anology atomic vibrations can be calculated with energy hv
in solids electrons are reflected in all directions
and sometimes photons produce standing waves
and usually lattice waves are propogated conserving momentum
in 1869 Lorentz made poor assumptions using classical arguments
before Planck Rayleigh and Jeans incorrectly interpreted the equipartition of energy
in the 19th century Maxwell proceeded wrongly theoretically
in 1905 Einstein tackled the problem by quantization
in Germany Debye tackled the problem anharmonically
in 1905 Einstein proceeded classically
High-Entropy Essays were part
of Cybernetic Serendipity at the ICA, London, 1968 along with
COMPUTERIZED HAIKU. They are frankly bogus physics essays.
Hardly anyone remembers High-Entropy Essays now. This is a sad thing.
They are the forerunner of all the computer
texts
that have tried to pass as human-authored. However, Mendoza's
subterfuge was quickly discovered. This happened about 1962.
Professor
Mendoza tells the
story:
"You
might also be interested to know the origin of this work.
Professor Flowers (no less) had a theory
that
students never actually learned any real ideas; all they learned
was a vocabulary of okay words which they strung
together
in arbitrary order, relying on the fact that an examiner
pressed for time would not actually read what they had written
but
would scan down the pages looking
for those words...The end point was when a colleague from another
university secretly
sent
me some first year examination papers
a week or so before the exam, and I wrote suitable vocabularies
(without cheating)
and
copied down what the computer emitted... the script was slipped in
among the genuine ones. Unfortunately it was marked
by
a very conscientious man who eventually
stormed into the Director's office shouting "Who the hell is this man,
why did we ever
admit
him? So perhaps Professor Flowers' hypothesis was incorrect."
The original program is lost. Mendoza published some of the
High-Entropy Essays. He also published a flow chart of the program.
This is what I used when I came to program my version. However, these two (mine and his) groups of
essays differ slightly.
When I have time I'll try to reverse-engineer Mendoza's essays to work
back to how he made them.
Wayne Clements
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