Poetry Beyond the Turing Test

Poetry conventionally is the liberated utterance of the feeling subject, “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth). The computer has taken poetry in several significant directions. With poetry on the page (electronic or otherwise), the computer has emulated human-authored texts. But it has also been used to create more experimental poetries. A further, better known, initiative has been to abet the departure of poetry from the page in various forms of visual, kinetic, hypertext, and hypermedia poetries. The first enterprise this paper engages with, rejects and attempts to exceed. The second it advocates. The third is not its subject. Whitby (2002) argues that the Turing Test (the ability of the computer to deceive a human interrogator) had historical value but has since become a distraction. The utility of computers therefore lies rather in achieving what humans alone cannot do rather than what they can. Whitby argues further that The Imitation Game tests not for intelligence but for cultural similarity. In this there is a failure of design based upon an attempt to test for intelligence without quantifying what this is. There have also been a variety of Turing Tests for poetry. These continue to comprise attempts to make computer poetry pass for human authored text. Involved in this, is a frequent appeal to conventional poetics. Computer poems may emulate traditional verse forms and the poetic styles of established poets. Comparable to the familiar Turing Test, the ‘Poetry Turing Test’ checks for a cultural match based on accepted poetics, which in turn evokes the eloquent, speaking subject. This paper proposes a development of poetics by the adoption of algorithmically oriented approaches to create poems based on the potential of the computer for such things as speed, or the handling of large quantities of data, or the precise control of text. Furthermore, this suggests the construal of ‘the poetic’ as an internally unstable and unfixed category, rather than a completed entity. This argues further for the computer as a collaborator in the further development of poetic forms. There have been a few initiatives. One of these is DIASTEXT by Jackson Mac Low. Exceptions prove rules. The combination of the algorithmic and the experimental in poetry is yet to be fully explored. To do so might add to the scope of poetry on the page.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Wayne Clements: www.in-vacua.com

Conference

Publication date: July 2016

Publication date (Print): July 2016

Pages: 213-219

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2016.42

SO-VID: 6742df89-8ff8-4c91-ad7b-a9dc5f075d14

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 12 - 14 July 2016

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2016.42

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

C. Amaral (no date) Ediçôes Críticas Digitais: O Caso da Literatura Electrónica de Pedro Barbosa ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://repositorioaberto.up.pt/bitstream/10216/79543/2/117861.pdf">https://repositorioaberto.up.pt/bitstream/10216/79543/2/117861.pdf 5 March 2016
R. W. Bailey 1974 Computer-assisted poetry: the writing machine is for everybody in, Computers and the humanities J. L. Mitchell Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh 288 296
R. Brooks 2014 Computer Algorithm Generates Poetry As Good As Shakespeare ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.psfk.com/2014/01/shakespeare-machine-learning-poetry-app.html">http://www.psfk.com/2014/01/shakespeare-machine-learning-poetry-app.html 5 March 2016
A. C. Bulhak 1996 On the Simulation of Postmodernism and Mental Debility using Recursive Transition Networks ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/pubsearch?104+1996+bulhak+Postmodernism">http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/pubsearch?104+1996+bulhak+Postmodernism 2 August 2004
G. EpsteinB. Schneiderman 1977 Technical Report No. 62. Formal and Computer Poetry ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/techreports/TR62.pdf">ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/techreports/TR62.pdf 5 March 2016
C. T. Funkhouser 2007 Prehistoric Digital Poetry, an archaeology of forms, 1959-1995 University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa
C. T. Funkhouser 2012 New Directions in Digital Poetry Continuum New York
K. Goldsmith 2011 Uncreative Writing Columbia University Press New York
C. O. Hartman 1996 Virtual Muse: Experiments in Computer Poetry University Press of New England Hanover, NH
A. Hodges 1983 Alan Turing: The Enigma of Intelligence Unwin London
D. R. Hoftstadter 1999 Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Penguin Harmondsworth, Middlesex
A. Hudson 2012 Man or machine - can robots really write novels? BBC News, BBC UK ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/clickonline/9764416.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/clickonline/9764416.stm 5 March 2016
B. W. KernighanR. Pike 1999 The Practice of Programming Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA
R. Kurzweil 1999 A Kind of Turing Test ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.kurzweilcvberart.com/poetrv/rkcpakind ofturingtest.php">http://www.kurzweilcvberart.com/poetrv/rkcpakind ofturingtest.php 5 March 2016
R. Kurzweil 2000 History of RKCP ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.kurzweilcyberart.com/poetry/rkcphistor yofrkcp.php">http://www.kurzweilcyberart.com/poetry/rkcphistor yofrkcp.php 5 March 2016
J. Mac Low 2008 Thing of Beauty University of California Press Berkeley, CA
M. Mac Low 2012 The Role of the Machine in the Experiment of Egoless Poetry: Jackson Mac Low and the Programmable Film Reader H. B. HigginsD. Kahn Mainframe Experimentalism: Early computing and the foundations of the digital arts University of California Press Berkeley, CA 298 311
J. N. Matias 2016 Private Communication
M. Perloff 2010 Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by Other Means In The New Century University of Chicago Press Chicago
Z. Scholl 2015 The Poem That Passed the Turing Test ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://rpiai.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/turing-test-passed-using-computer-generated-poetry/">https://rpiai.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/turing-test-passed-using-computer-generated-poetry/ 5 March 2016
Z. Scholl 2016 Private Communication
A. Turing 1950 Computing Machinery and Intelligence Mind 49 433 460 ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf">http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf 5 March 2016
B. Whitby 2002 The Turing Test: AI’s Biggest Blind Alley? P. MillicanA. Clark Machines and Thought. The legacy of Alan Turing 1 Oxford University Press 53 63
M. Wolff 2007 Reading Potential: The Oulipo and the Meaning of Algorithms ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/1/000005/000005.html">http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/1/000005/000005.html 5 March 2016

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] C. Amaral (no date) Ediçôes Críticas Digitais: O Caso da Literatura Electrónica de Pedro Barbosa ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://repositorioaberto.up.pt/bitstream/10216/79543/2/117861.pdf">https://repositorioaberto.up.pt/bitstream/10216/79543/2/117861.pdf 5 March 2016

[2] R. W. Bailey 1974 Computer-assisted poetry: the writing machine is for everybody in, Computers and the humanities J. L. Mitchell Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh 288 296

[3] R. Brooks 2014 Computer Algorithm Generates Poetry As Good As Shakespeare ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.psfk.com/2014/01/shakespeare-machine-learning-poetry-app.html">http://www.psfk.com/2014/01/shakespeare-machine-learning-poetry-app.html 5 March 2016

[4] A. C. Bulhak 1996 On the Simulation of Postmodernism and Mental Debility using Recursive Transition Networks ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/pubsearch?104+1996+bulhak+Postmodernism">http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/pubsearch?104+1996+bulhak+Postmodernism 2 August 2004

[5] G. EpsteinB. Schneiderman 1977 Technical Report No. 62. Formal and Computer Poetry ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/techreports/TR62.pdf">ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/techreports/TR62.pdf 5 March 2016

[6] C. T. Funkhouser 2007 Prehistoric Digital Poetry, an archaeology of forms, 1959-1995 University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa

[7] C. T. Funkhouser 2012 New Directions in Digital Poetry Continuum New York

[8] K. Goldsmith 2011 Uncreative Writing Columbia University Press New York

[9] C. O. Hartman 1996 Virtual Muse: Experiments in Computer Poetry University Press of New England Hanover, NH

[10] A. Hodges 1983 Alan Turing: The Enigma of Intelligence Unwin London

[11] D. R. Hoftstadter 1999 Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Penguin Harmondsworth, Middlesex

[12] A. Hudson 2012 Man or machine - can robots really write novels? BBC News, BBC UK ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/clickonline/9764416.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/clickonline/9764416.stm 5 March 2016

[13] B. W. KernighanR. Pike 1999 The Practice of Programming Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA

[14] R. Kurzweil 1999 A Kind of Turing Test ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.kurzweilcvberart.com/poetrv/rkcpakind ofturingtest.php">http://www.kurzweilcvberart.com/poetrv/rkcpakind ofturingtest.php 5 March 2016

[15] R. Kurzweil 2000 History of RKCP ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.kurzweilcyberart.com/poetry/rkcphistor yofrkcp.php">http://www.kurzweilcyberart.com/poetry/rkcphistor yofrkcp.php 5 March 2016

[16] J. Mac Low 2008 Thing of Beauty University of California Press Berkeley, CA

[17] M. Mac Low 2012 The Role of the Machine in the Experiment of Egoless Poetry: Jackson Mac Low and the Programmable Film Reader H. B. HigginsD. Kahn Mainframe Experimentalism: Early computing and the foundations of the digital arts University of California Press Berkeley, CA 298 311

[18] J. N. Matias 2016 Private Communication

[19] M. Perloff 2010 Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by Other Means In The New Century University of Chicago Press Chicago

[20] Z. Scholl 2015 The Poem That Passed the Turing Test ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://rpiai.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/turing-test-passed-using-computer-generated-poetry/">https://rpiai.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/turing-test-passed-using-computer-generated-poetry/ 5 March 2016

[21] Z. Scholl 2016 Private Communication

[22] A. Turing 1950 Computing Machinery and Intelligence Mind 49 433 460 ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf">http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf 5 March 2016

[23] B. Whitby 2002 The Turing Test: AI’s Biggest Blind Alley? P. MillicanA. Clark Machines and Thought. The legacy of Alan Turing 1 Oxford University Press 53 63

[24] M. Wolff 2007 Reading Potential: The Oulipo and the Meaning of Algorithms ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/1/000005/000005.html">http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/1/000005/000005.html 5 March 2016

Celebrating 65 years of The Computer Journal - free-to-read perspectives - bcs.org/tcj65