Ernie: At the risk of re-inventing the wheel, the thought has occurred to me that there is a way to construct plausible -or even "good" conversation: Modularize responses / replies to questions. The idea derives from the lecture circuit. Here's how it works: A speaker gives a lecture about the Civil War, but could be anything, US - Israel relations, home theater technology, undersea exploration, you-name-it. The speaker will only answer questions about Gettysburg or Shiloh or bushwackers in West Virginia, etc. He will not reply to any questions about other topics. This is very different than most person-to-person interactions in which nothing is off limits, or very little is verboten. In "normal" conversations the subject of your hydrophobia may come up, or my aversion to rap (so-called) music, or our views of mutual friends ( Horace is a total schmuck, Gertrude is a hot babe, Dr Alphonso is onto something with his new invention, etc, etc). This means pointed conversations -everything else is out of bounds. Hence, when you summon a hologram of Tom Sawyer (the playwrite/TV producer) he (the hologram) tells you off the bat that he will answer any questions about how to craft a story, how to develop a character, but he won't reply to unrelated issues. This isn't too different than many business meetings, either. Given a "bounded" topic, even when it is very broad, like script writing, you could devise good replies to innumerable questions, or even create an algorithm that might search the person's (hologram's) data bank to look for replies from amongst a large collection of personal information, professional accomplishments, news reports about the person, etc. That is, don't try to incorporate an infinite number of possible replies to an infinite number of questions. Keep it within limits. Say that the "person" / hologram you bought at the App store is an electronic version of James Madison. One module might consist of maybe 5,000 possible answers to questions about the Constitution. There could even be an algorithm add-on that, now and then, might search the record to bring up unusual facts or make little jokes about the topic. This module perfected, work commences on the next module, say, Madison and the War of 1812 (-1815). There could be a module about his relationship to Dolly, to George Washington, to Jefferson, and so forth. Eventually you'd have 20 or 30 really good modules to make use of to construct a similitude of James Madison. Do likewise for Aimie Semple McPherson, Mark Twain, Alexander Graham Bell, or anyone else who might be marketed to good effect. JFK should sell like crazy; so should "Margaret Thatcher" in Great Britain, or Gandhi in India. Other "naturals" include MLK, Mencken, Janis Joplin, and Erwin Rommel. Each "person" could also include a childhood-and-youth module in which all kinds of trivia about the character's early years could be asked about. A "guiding algorithm" could feature "triggers" -key words that may come up asked by a human- which would provoke the hologram into offering a short monologue on some subject. For example, you ask "Nehru" what his concept of socialism was all about and "he" gives a short answer but then shifts gears to tell you about his views of Soviet leaders of his era ( "they are a**holes, but they mean well"). This should be simple enough, just think like Ken Burns producing a documentary and put it all together. ------------------------------------------------------ Another sure fire idea: The Bimbo Channel. Not the hot sex channel or the Playboy channel. The idea, instead, is to lure the male-wannabe-stud market, which is close to 100% of the single male market. All shows -mostly thinking about movies, but also serialized drama, etc- would feature attractive young women, the more the better, especially young women with large breasts. Some shows might include some sex, but the idea is vicarious "relationships" plus a good deal of voyeurism. Now you tell me this would not attract males galore the way that a light bulb at night attracts moths and I'd know that you are clinically insane. This is a sure thing multi-million $$ idea if ever there was one. Billy
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