Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sarah Palin Sentence Generator

I'm a professor who teaches computer science courses at the college level. When I teach my students about artificial intelligence (AI), I show them examples of computer programs that are able to create English sentences. The simplest, least intelligent programs randomly select pre-programmed phrases and string them together to make sentences. The resulting sentences don't have to make sense and usually don't. Here's an example. This is exactly what I see with Sarah Palin. Her handlers have filled her with little 5- and 6-word catch phrases and she tries to make sentences with them. You can see her searching for them as she pauses, selecting one almost randomly. The resulting sentences don't have to make sense and usually don't. Using this AI related measure, she is demonstrating the lowest level of intelligence.

Now, I don't literally mean that is her functional level of intelligence. Clearly she is more than that. Her progression from PTA member, to mayor, to governor implies that she can operate in the public view successfully. However, during her interviews on the national stage, she has so far shown only that lowest level of capability - the ability to mimic intelligence. It is most likely due to having to learn too much too soon in terms of volume of information on the issues and how to manuever on the national stage. It is a palpable demonstration that she simply isn't ready to lead this nation and by definition that means she is not ready to be in the VP slot.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keith, You continally hit the nail on the head with your astute observations.
Sarah Palin Sentence Generator, priceless and truly funny albeit in a sad, what-will-become-of-us-if-they-win way.
You need to find out how to get your blog linked to Huffington Post or the DailyKos.
Terry

Unknown said...

At least there are some funny aspects to the campaign.

McCain's spending freeze mentioned during the debate...not so funny. I guess I need to figure out how to militarize all of my research so I can at least get funding from the DOD.

Moose Goose said...

Thanks for commenting, guys! Terry, our marketing department is trying to link to other places more and more. :-) You may notice blogroll notices and YouTube links at the bottom of the page.

Richard, I had a *gulp* moment at the spending freeze line also, wondering how that would look. That sounded like an extreme action to toss out so casually.