The Postmodernism Generator is a
computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer program ...
that automatically produces "close imitations" of
postmodernist
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
writing. It was written in 1996 by Andrew C. Bulhak of
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
using the Dada Engine, a system for generating random text from
recursive grammars. A free version is also hosted online. The essays are produced from a formal grammar defined by a
recursive transition network
A recursive transition network ("RTN") is a graph theoretical schematic used to represent the rules of a context-free grammar. RTNs have application to programming languages, natural language and lexical analysis. Any sentence that is construct ...
.
Responses
It was mentioned by biologist
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
in the conclusion to his article "Postmodernism Disrobed"
[ (1998) for the scientific journal '']Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'', reprinted in his book ''A Devil's Chaplain
''A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love'' is a 2003 book of selected essays and other writings by Richard Dawkins. Published five years after Dawkins's previous book ''Unweaving the Rainbow'', it contains essays cove ...
'' (2004).[
After he "produced the first two ]ines
Ines or INES may refer to:
People
* Ines (name), a feminine given name, also written as Inés or Inês
* Saint Ines or Agnes (), Roman virgin–martyr
* Eda-Ines Etti (stage name: ''Ines''; born 1981), Estonian singer
Places
* Doña Ines, a vo ...
using a 'Postmodernism Generator,' and the second two using an 'Analytic Philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United Sta ...
Generator'", philosophy of information
The philosophy of information (PI) is a branch of philosophy that studies topics relevant to information processing, representational system and consciousness, cognitive science, computer science, information science and information technology.
...
and information ethics Information ethics has been defined as "the branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination, and use of information, and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society". I ...
researcher Luciano Floridi
Luciano Floridi (; born 16 November 1964) is an Italian people, Italian and British people, British philosopher. He holds a double appointment as professor of philosophy and ethics of information at the University of Oxford, Oxford Internet In ...
stated, that
See also
* Academese
Academese is a term referring to unnecessary jargon associated with the field of academia, particularly common in academic writing in humanities, and is contrasted with plain language. The term is often but not always pejorative, and occasionally c ...
* Parody generator
Parody generators are computer programs which generate text that is syntactically correct, but usually meaningless, often in the style of a technical paper or a particular writer. They are also called travesty generators and random text generato ...
* Paper generator
A paper generator is computer software that composes scholarly papers in the style of those that appear in academic journals or conference proceedings. Typically, the generator uses technical jargon from the field to compose sentences that are gra ...
* SCIgen
SCIgen is a paper generator that uses context-free grammar to randomly generate nonsense in the form of computer science research papers. Its original data source was a collection of computer science papers downloaded from CiteSeer. All elements ...
* Sokal affair
The Sokal affair, also called the Sokal hoax, was a demonstrative scholarly publishing sting, scholarly hoax performed by Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University and University College London. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article t ...
*Monte Carlo method
Monte Carlo methods, or Monte Carlo experiments, are a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results. The underlying concept is to use randomness to solve problems that might be determi ...
References
External links
The Postmodernism Generator web page
(generates a random postmodernist article each time loaded)
snarXiv
Chomskybot
(a similar program from the 80's based on a small corpus of Analytic philosopher Noam Chomsky's text
Chomskybot
(the new home of the chomskybot as the previous home expired
Analytic Philosophy Generator
Criticism of postmodernism
Postmodernism
Natural language generation
Computer-related introductions in 1996
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