X-Message-Number: 11523 Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 22:36:53 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Simulated Poet, Real Poetry Thomas Donaldson, #11519, writes, >A poet that is basically a program in a computer does not >write poetry (though if the programmer who created that poet is good >enough, he might make the poet write something that looked very much >like poetry. It would seem that your definition of "poetry" incorporates something about the *origin* of the text in question, i.e. it is based on something more than the text itself. While I don't have a precise definition, to me whether a piece of text is to be regarded as "poetry" or not depends on the text itself, and not how it was created or what produced it. Again, I submit that a simulated poet would write real poetry. A simulated mathematician would do real mathematics, etc. I'll try to check on Wittgenstein. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11523