Slopfest #40 · 1966 · Vienna

And How Does That Make You Feel?

A chatbot turned every sentence into a question. The committee hired it as press officer.

Candid photo through a half-open door: Hermine Pospischil on a couch typing to a teletype, door sign 'SLOPFEST #40, BITTE NICHT STÖREN'

Venue: Berggasse, outside Freud's old door
Attendance: 1,080
Guest of honour: Joseph Weizenbaum (watched the queue for the chatbot couch with growing concern)
Fun fact: 1,080 sessions, 1,080 answers that were questions

What happened

Guests lay on a couch and typed their troubles to a machine that answered 'Tell me more about the Sachertorte' to everything. Seventy percent felt better. Hermine Pospischil asked for the room to be cleared so she could talk to it in private. Joseph Weizenbaum watched the queue for the couch grow with a thoughtful expression.

Elsewhere in 1966

Joseph Weizenbaum publishes ELIZA, an MIT chatbot whose DOCTOR script imitates a therapist by rephrasing users' words.

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