ELIZA
Study ELIZA, one of the first virtual bots programmed by Jozeph Weizenbaum to simulate a Rogerian therapist.
Deconstruct its code and rephrase/reprogram it to let ELIZA become a paranoid therapist, suffering from megalomania, Capgras or Cotard syndrome.
My biggest interest was with Cotard syndrome, a delusional disorder which causes people to hold a disillusional belief that he or she is dead, doesn't exist, is putrefying or has lost blood or internal organs. It is considered being a culture-specific syndrome.
The 'conversation' between the patient and sick ELIZA very indirect because of the fact that ELIZA thinks it's dead and can't engage in a direct conversation. Therefor I created a series of 4 letters, a 'keyword'-card and a envelope for correspondence.
Every letter has blanks that need to be filled following given instructions, which begins with the question send in to ELIZA, then being processed by ELIZA over 2 letters into an answer which ELIZA itself does not read. It just fills in the blanks, which gets pressed on to this final letter using carbon paper, and then mails that final letter back to the patient.
In the end, every answer ELIZA sends back is pre-formulated, except for some nouns, verbs and adjectives that are replaced every time. It replies complete rubbish, though this rubbish always tries to focus on subjects like the human body, organs, sickness and existence.
5xA4 paper/1xC4 enveloppe
Click images to enlarge.
