Philip M. Parker, author of 200,000 Books!

[NickAdams]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/business/media/14link.html?_r=1

[JBI]

That's the dumbest thing I've ever read - as if a computer can do any real scholarship - it can only possibly plagiarize.

[Zee.]

That's the dumbest thing I've ever read - as if a computer can do any real scholarship - it can only possibly plagiarize.

Heh, you're quite funny, you are.

[NickAdams]

That's the dumbest thing I've ever read - as if a computer can do any real scholarship - it can only possibly plagiarize.

:lol:
True, but imagine what Borges would have done with such a story. I think the authors of meta-fiction have found a new subject.;)

[mortalterror]

Reminds me of The Electronic Bard by Stanislaw Lem http://books.google.com/books?id=kWElP9YZkzQC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=electronic+bard+lem&source=web&ots=-LaN13tjb2&sig=du9UFJu2s-6OfZSTbbh-u5M_mp0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA43,M1 .

If I recall correctly, Isaac Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books. Lope De Vega wrote 2500 plays and some of them were even good, likewise Balzac's hundred or so novels. Of course, those people are just monsters.

[wessexgirl]

It seems he's trying his hand, (or computer) at romances next! He may possibly beat the Queen of Hearts in quantity, but who would have the best quality? :lol: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bcartlan.htm

[mortalterror]

It seems he's trying his hand, (or computer) at romances next! He may possibly beat the Queen of Hearts in quantity, but who would have the best quality? :lol: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bcartlan.htm

You know, I hear about these types of people and I think "Couldn't they find anything better to do with their day?" There's something to be said for the work ethic but after a point it becomes unhealthy. I mean, go outside, throw a ball, shoot some pool, drink a beer, chase women, roll some dice. Whatever. Get a hobby. Like Faulkner said:

“It's a shame that the only thing a man can do for eight hours a day is work. He can't eat for eight hours; he can't drink for eight hours; he can't make love for eight hours. The only thing a man can do for eight hours is work."

Dedication is one thing, but this borders on graphomania.

[andave_ya]

good gosh. how...strange. how...:lol: disgustingly unliterary :D...

[Emil Miller]

A similar situation arose with the invention of the piano roll; at the time it was suggested that pianos and pianists, except for the few who would make the rolls, would die out. The piano did disappear from the parlour, not because of its mechanical substitute but due to the invention of the gramophone.
However, with forty million children now learning to play the piano in China it is very much back on the agenda while the mechanical piano remains a quaint curiosity.

I think we will still have human authors around for a while.

[JBI]

You know, I hear about these types of people and I think "Couldn't they find anything better to do with their day?" There's something to be said for the work ethic but after a point it becomes unhealthy. I mean, go outside, throw a ball, shoot some pool, drink a beer, chase women, roll some dice. Whatever. Get a hobby. Like Faulkner said:

“It's a shame that the only thing a man can do for eight hours a day is work. He can't eat for eight hours; he can't drink for eight hours; he can't make love for eight hours. The only thing a man can do for eight hours is work."

Dedication is one thing, but this borders on graphomania.

There is the money thing though... You must admit, Balzac at least was drawn to monetary gain, as was the somewhat less, though still prolific, Dickens. Writers back then, without patrons, probably didn't have the time to throw balls around, as they were writing for their food more often than not. Then again, Asimov wasn't in that position, but I fain to find a book actually readable by him, unless you really are obsessed with logic and science - he's so darn dry.

[JCamilo]

:lol:
True, but imagine what Borges would have done with such a story. I think the authors of meta-fiction have found a new subject.;)

Possibly, he would just note that after all the industry was dominated by the algorithim, that indeed produced a notable sonet, that a Young Indian kid discovered the algorithim had a mistake in the third line...

[dafydd manton]

What was it Johnson said? No-one but a blockhead ever wrote except for money? If only I could make some.