From: Sean Roach <roach_s@alph.swosu.edu>
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 12:10:33 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: [pure noise] filtering Re: "censorship in cyberspace"???
Message-ID: <199611062010.MAA14479@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 03:29 PM 11/5/96 -0800, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote:
...
>the "automatic prose generator" technology out there leaves a lot
>of other interesting ideas. an ingenious software engineer
>with a flair for writing could create some pretty sophisticated
>grammars that automatically generate text yet are impossible
>to detect over perhaps even dozens of messages output by them.
>they could even have their own personalities and writing styles,
>if the software engineer were creative and devious enough.
...
Consider, however, that when computers match humans in the ability to
generate coherent sentences, they might have something useful to say.  Even
now, search, engine designers are fighting with "web spam" artists who fill
thier pages with various "key" words or statements to ensnare hapless
browsers.  These designers are developing filtering systems to combat this,
and these filters could conceivably be ported to the e-mail community to
filter machine generated text.  There should be a point where the prose spun
by asimov's "positronic brains" and that woven by a humans own "natural"
brain would be indistingushable.  At this point, we might want to hear their
opinions, for they should be as valid as any other.