The Postmodernism Generator is a
computer program that automatically produces "close imitations" of
postmodernist writing. It was written in 1996 by Andrew C. Bulhak of
Monash University 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 construc ...
.
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'', reprinted in his book '' A Devil's Chaplain'' (2004).][
After he "produced the first two inesusing 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 and information ethics researcher Luciano Floridi stated, that
See also
* Academese
* Parody generator
* Paper generator
* SCIgen
* 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
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
Criticism of postmodernism
Postmodernism
Natural language generation
Computer-related introductions in 1996