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Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

extremetech.com

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Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#41

Post by rhizome »

dbaupp wrote: post #37
rhizome wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also would seem to cast a lie to the claim that they are generated "algorithmically."

The context is unclear: what would cast a lie to that claim?

"Random high-level items" is not much of an algo.

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#43

Post by msutherl »

rwg wrote: post #7

Just what Amazon needs: 800,000 computer-generated books crapping up the listings along with the thousands of on-demand printed copies of Wikipedia articles. Wonderful.

I can't believe this guy has no sense of humor[1]! He's completely serious about providing a service and making tons of money from it.

In one question the interviewer asks: 'could you make a novel for instance?' to which he replies 'well, novels don't usually make money'. Wouldn't you think the correct answer would be 'well, it wouldn't be very good'?

Hauntology at its best[2].

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8WuGKyBR90

[2] http://booktwo.org/notebook/hauntological-futures/

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#44

Post by DanBC »

I'm curious about the licencing - he's scraping some stuff from Wikipedia, but it's not clear which bits.

I'm also confused about the super high price. Is this deliberate to avoid having to refund to very many unhappy customers?

And while these books are probably awful he's going to be known by the future people as one of the innovators of auto-generated content. At least he's not breaking spam filters with Markov chains.

It's gently odd that AI got stuck for a while; I very much hope that AI research and practice gets a bit more attention and funding.

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#45

Post by dbaupp »

rhizome wrote: post #41
dbaupp wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The context is unclear: what would cast a lie to that claim?

"Random high-level items" is not much of an algo.

So you weren't talking about the index containing every word in the book? Or, if you were, isn't that be exactly what the most naive indexing algorithm would do?

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#46

Post by czr80 »

alanh wrote: post #36
modarts wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess this is the physical manifestation of the "million monkeys on a typewriter" thought experiment.

It made me think of Sarte’s infinite library, but the reality of these books looks nothing like either.

Borges, not Sarte.

Re: Programmer creates 800,000 books algorithmically, starts selling them on Amazon

#49

Post by jrockway »

podperson wrote: post #32
rwg wrote: post #7

Just what Amazon needs: 800,000 computer-generated books crapping up the listings along with the thousands of on-demand printed copies of Wikipedia articles. Wonderful.

Although, to be fair, while Amazon doesn't need this, it kind of deserves it.

How dare they let just anyone write a book. Printing presses should be reserved for the elite and people whose opinions I personally agree with.
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