Dear ELIZA

Posted on by Brian Crouse

ELIZA may be a better therapist than I am.

This week’s topic led me to do some serious introspection…mostly on the idea of mimicry. At what point does a mimic, an impersonator, a copycat, a forger, etc. become real or authentic in their own right. 

In the art world, if someone can copy the style (or styles) of the great artists to a degree that experts are fooled, is that person a forger or an artist.

Imitation is the highest level of flattery after all.

Some of this week made me revisit ideas related to our discussions on [re]mix and re[mediation] as well as the issues with copyright and authorship. Where is the line really drawn between emulating something and donning a patch, pirate, and affinity to the letter “R”.

We are in so many ways a copy-culture. Trends and fads and crazes. We want to belong. We want to look like and talk like and be like our heroes (whomever they are). 

We are all hung up on this question of “Who am I?” 

Ego.

So what happens if we meditate for a bit on the question? Make it a mantra for 5 or 10 minutes.

Some interesting things can start to happen. We can start to see how “I” is nothing without relation to other. How we are more other than not. More similar than not.

So are we so different from AI. Maybe AI isn’t so much Artificial Intelligence, but rather Alternative Intelligence. 

And how opening is that as a concept? There is plenty out there on multiple intelligences…IQ and EQ and the plethora of others. All of them alternatives to each other, but related. Different ways of thinking. Different way of interacting with the world around us. Different approaches to whatever we face. Diversity and unity.

So I am not very good at determining the difference between human and computer writing. Not sure what this means but I feel like maybe my best friends are bots? 

Just ’cause. Toad and Fox

Confession: A major part of the reason I am in the CACT program is becoming disenchanted with therapy and mental health. There is a lot of back story to this that I won’t go into, but there are more and more question [not just in my mind] about the future of the profession. Some of this is based on the idea that more extensively trained professionals don’t significantly do better than those with less training. Some of it has to do with self-help and group-help being equal in many circumstances to training professional help. 

And then there is ELIZA. [And brother MYLO] 

ELIZA was born in 1966 and trained to be a psychotherapist of the Rogerian school. She is excellent at reflective listening, patient, and available. Many of the people who first interacted with her viewed her as intelligent and understanding [good qualities for a therapist]. She passed her exams, the hardest being the Turing Test. 

If you’d like to meet ELIZA she is waiting in her office. Just knock below. 

Hope you all feel better. Looking forward to reading some amazing rough drafts. Look for a link to mine in the main menu. Or click below.  

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Published by Brian Crouse

5 thoughts on “Dear ELIZA”

  1. Wow, I’ve never heard of ELIZA! Thanks for the heads up. This week’s readings simply made me think about all that is real and unreal in this world. Where is the content coming from? Who is generating it? Can it be trusted? Are we all just becoming paranoid and anxious? Especially given the current situation in the world, it’s hard to imagine ALL of what we read/see is being created by real human beings.

    I think a lot about confirmation bias and I wonder how much of this type of work is being done by bots, meaning, once it’s known what I believe/like/dislike/watch, etc, does a bot simply generate content it knows I will click on? Anyway, thanks for the thought-provoking post!

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  2. Hi Brian,

    I hadn’t considered AI to be Alternative Intelligence as you mentioned, but that is a good point. AI is created by humans and is technically just an extension of us, so maybe it’s best to look at as being just another way we can communicate successfully rather than a separate entity.

    The ELIZA therapist was super interesting. It reminded me of the bots that pose as customer services reps which pop up on websites to answer simple issues you may be having. It’s intriguing that even though we know they are bots, it is more comfortable to talk to a bot that acts like a human rather than a bot that seems like it’s a machine. This goes for bots like Alexa or Google Home as well.

    Thanks for your response this week!

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      1. I often do say thank you. Pretty sure it is just my habit when requesting anything, but the fact that SIRI is non-human doesn’t register enough for me to stop the habit. I wonder what I would be like with other smart-connected devices, say a fridge.
        As a funny note, I was once in session and the client was expressing their frustration about something and SIRI on my phone interrupted and asked, “I don’t understand what you want.” Now generally I had my phone off in session but had forgotten to do so. Anyway, it helped to diffuse the tension and did get the client to refocus on solutions. So maybe SIRI is a better therapist as well as ELIZA. Maybe they can start co-leading group sessions.
        ~Brian

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