Computer 'voice'

[EmilyMiller]

<evil laugh> I guess you’ll find out in the basement, young miss. <add bass drop to soundtrack>

Get a dungeon you two

 

[PennyThompson]

<evil laugh> I guess you’ll find out in the basement, young miss. <add bass drop to soundtrack>

Get a dungeon you two

this better not awaken anything in me...

 

[HectorBidon]

We used to use a monospaced font like Courier from the days of the 80-character computer terminal to emphasize the artificiality of a computer voice. But computers are getting more sophisticated all the time, and by the time we get to the singularity, well, think of Samantha, the sentient artificial intelligence system played by Scarlett Johansson in the movie 'Her.' Her voice had all the rhythm, contextual awareness, and emotion of a real human being.

I would expect nothing less from Unicomp. I'd think you'd want to write him like you would a fully human character, giving him perhaps a subtly distinctive speaking style (as some others have suggested), but depicting him primarily—and revealing his personality—through the content of what he says. He's your MMC; make him a Scarlett Johansson equivalent.

 

[DeMont]

Okaaaay, well into the writing the Great Erotic Novel and have a question for those, if not Older, then at least Wiser than myself. (Objectively, that's not all that hard - just work with me.)

It's post-singularity and there are two main characters, one a young woman and the other the world computer, oh, call it 'Unicomp'. Computer voices in movies have always been just slightly out of step with human voices. Be it the shrill "Stair-Il-Ize!" of a rogue Star Trek satellite to the inhumanly human measured tones of the bearded Programmer in The Matrix, good ones have always been a bit distinctive. So, is there a way to express this in writing, here?

The obvious answer is to use my superlative writing skills, otherwise sticking to the Chicago Manual of Style. Yes, yes, got it. But aside from that?

Putting Unicomp's words all in caps would be superdistinctive, but also distracting, as would all italics or - ick! - all in bold. Small caps might work but that's not on the approved list.

Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

@TarnishedPenny,
Good evening dear colleague,
Your question brought back memories of Bruce Dern in "Silent Running" trying to talk a (A.I.) Bomb out of exploding since, as it's reasoning logically followed the line that, this was it's primary task.

I have always, by preference, given the "computer" it's own name (Acronym) so that it can be included in dialogue, monolgue and discussion by using its its name at the appropritae place/s in sentences/paragraphs.

That, it would occur to me, would be the easiest and least confusing manner to achieve what you wish.
Deepest respects,
D.

 

[StillStunned]

This was from my attempt at a sentient computer character

This is from one of mine:

A bright ‘chirrup!’ sound made her spin back to face the room. A blue bird hung before her, level with her face. No, she realised, a hologram of a bird. A cartoon bird, with large eyes and, when it began to speak, wings that emphasised its words like hands.

“Hi!” it said in a bright voice. “I’m Chirpy. You seem to be new here. If you would like any help, just ask. That’s what I’m here for!” And it somersaulted in the air as if it had too much energy to be still.

“Ehm, sure,” Roz replied slowly. “There was supposed to be a soaker here.”

“That’s right!” Chirpy darted up and fluttered to one of the corners. “All you have to do is say, ‘Soaker on,’ and there it is!”

As the hologram spoke, the floor shimmered and became a wide soaker platform that disappeared again when Chirpy returned to hang in front of Roz. It chirruped again. “Hi! You look like you could use some fresh clothes. Would you like some help with that?”

 

[nice90sguy]

My last two areas of specialization in my tech work have been in speech generation and speech recognition. This is a topic that I really know well, and I can pontifcate at length on the subject at the drop of a hat.

But for now, I just want to make an obvious point : In the hypothetical scenario of "worldcomp" , the computer will sound completelty human (or, to take it further, communication will be completely automatic, e.g. via "thought transference"). So I'd advise throwing away all notions of the AI being hampered in any way from naturalistic speech. i.e. use the same font style for the human and the single AI.

 

[StillStunned]

Just start every bit of the computer's dialogue with "That's an excellent question!"

 

[BobbyBrandt]

For me, it would be finding a way to clearly distinguish the computer dialogue (not the "voice") from other characters. For example, the computer would likely produce dialogue that was always proper and grammatically correct, where human characters would have varying dialects and verbal gaffs that would clearly make them less rigid in their speech. Consequently, I would focus more on how the humans spoke rather than the computer.

 

[ElectricBlue]

@TarnishedPenny,
Good evening dear colleague,
Your question brought back memories of Bruce Dern in "Silent Running" trying to talk a (A.I.) Bomb out of exploding since, as it's reasoning logically followed the line that, this was it's primary task.

That sounds more like John Carpenter's Dark Star, where the crew travel the universe detonating suns that will go supernova in a million years, just in case there are planets with intelligent life that might otherwise be destroyed.

It ends with one character surfing one of the meteor showers on a piece ot4 the exploded spacecraft. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

 

[TheLobster]

Just start every bit of the computer's dialogue with "That's an excellent question!"

Making it sound like a GPT chatbot in general would probably serve better than anything else to evoke the feeling of artificial "intelligence".

It might be tricky to get past the AI detector, though.

 

[StillStunned]

Making it sound like a GPT chatbot in general would probably serve better than anything else to evoke the feeling of artificial "intelligence".

It might be tricky to get past the AI detector, though.

After I wrote the post I thought a better reference would be "GPP": Genuine People Personality from H2G2. Remember Eddie the Shipboard Computer?

"Hi there! This Eddie, your shipboard computer. And I'm feeling just great, guys! And I know I'm just gonna get a bundle of kicks out of any programme you care to run through me!"

 

[TheLobster]

"Hi there! This Eddie, your shipboard computer. And I'm feeling just great, guys! And I know I'm just gonna get a bundle of kicks out of any programme you care to run through me!"

Now that is just Marvin in reverse.

 

[StillStunned]

Now that is just Marvin in reverse.

Marvin was a prototype. I'm not sure, but I think Eddie (and the doors and lifts) were given cheerful personalities in response to him.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Sigh (and smile). About what I expected and working on developing the computer's character was there from the start. I'd just had some faint hope. In any case, I've some good perspectives and maybe even a couple of things to look up. Thanks, all!

 

[PennyThompson]

Marvin was a prototype. I'm not sure, but I think Eddie (and the doors and lifts) were given cheerful personalities in response to him.

If I remember correctly, the doors were programmed to experience intense pleasure every time they got to open or close

 

[PennyThompson]

Well, just get on with it and we can compare notes! And you don't need to have read the first novel in the trilogy, which is decent enough but really just sets up the mad universe that Startide Rising and its equally entertaining companion, The Uplift War, occur in.

You're going to be mad at me, but... I dug around and found my paperback last night, and then realized that I DID already start reading this back during the lockdown and then never finished it

I loved the world building and the concept of Uplift, and the dynamic between the humans and dolphins was fascinating. I can't remember why I lost interest half-way through... but I'm picking it back up!

 

[Actingup]

You're going to be mad at me, but... I dug around and found my paperback last night, and then realized that I DID already start reading this back during the lockdown and then never finished it

I loved the world building and the concept of Uplift, and the dynamic between the humans and dolphins was fascinating. I can't remember why I lost interest half-way through... but I'm picking it back up!

I'm not mad, just disappointed For what it's worth, I think that it's one of those ones where when the threads come together, the investment all becomes worthwhile. That doesn't mean you have to like it, of course, but back in the day, David Brin's star was shining brightly based on this book.

 

[PennyThompson]

I'm not mad, just disappointed

Acting noooo

 

[Bramblethorn]

If I remember correctly, the doors were programmed to experience intense pleasure every time they got to open or close

"Glad to be of service."

 

[DeMont]

After I wrote the post I thought a better reference would be "GPP": Genuine People Personality from H2G2. Remember Eddie the Shipboard Computer?

"Hi there! This Eddie, your shipboard computer. And I'm feeling just great, guys! And I know I'm just gonna get a bundle of kicks out of any programme you care to run through me!"

@StillStunned,
Sounds like you've been playing through Fallout: Las Vegas and come across the robot called "Yes Man"???

I'm more your sort of "Red Dwarf" type myself.
Respectfully,
D.

 

[StillStunned]

@StillStunned,
Sounds like you've been playing through Fallout: Las Vegas and come across the robot called "Yes Man"???

Eddie, Marvin, the doors and the lifts are all from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I remember H2G2 being the common abbreviation, but perhaps it's passed out of mind.

I'm more your sort of "Red Dwarf" type myself.
Respectfully,
D.

And who doesn't love Holly (male and female), Kryten, Talkie Toaster, rogue symbionts and all the rest?