the bot

boynton was just taking her brain out for a bit of a stroll last night round midnight having been confined to bed in the evening with this lingering lurgie when she ran into some comments from Gary (here) that characteristically provoked thought (always appreciated btw), and she was forced to sit up straight and sneeze and shift gears and coldly articulate a sort of number 42 take-away equation in defence of some throwaway words that may signify the decline of boynton's civilisation AWKI.
Before the big editor in head could say: Pens down I realised I was writing too much for correct comment style, so chopped this sentence:
I used to compare the experience of browsing at the Dewey ordered library and wandering through the random muddle of the tables of books at the Salvos. The latter is more like the web. Indiscriminate, time-consuming but with the lure of the chance find. Even there you develop ways to scan more effectively to filter the pulp non-fiction, snake-oil and gardening books...

Funnily enough before I penned this latest in the ode to serendipity files I had just encountered another of those sort of beloved apps that produce random stuff. These spiders almost make it reflexive - as well as demonstrating visually or in this case aurally the algorithmic workings of the web, they can reflect the browsing experience (just in case we need our existential bearings writ random)
theBot
As something of a reverse search engine, theBot provides a look (and listen) into the narrative of the web - or at least into the stream of consciousness of a web Bot
(via things)
also around: 4 random captcha words from AOL sign up screens rearranged as 'serendipitous poetry' (via J walk)

perhaps it's all just one big soup - (the presurfer)

one of the best analogies for the processs remains psychoflubber (originally via Gianna) but when I tried revisiting I got a 404.

Don't know if this means anything or not.

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Comments: the bot

Love the "Insults by Shakespeare index". Disappointed there's no Christmas hamper deal - an assortment of threatening, debasing, dark and obtuse quotes from TheBard Inc. $30 or $25 by mail order.
Posted by Jim at November 12, 2003 03:16 PM

Yes it is rathergood isn't it. Good to take into the theatre of the foyer.

Laughest thou, wretch? Thy mirth shall turn to moan.
http://www.allgreatquotes.com/shakespeareinsults330.shtml
Posted by boynton at November 12, 2003 03:31 PM

This whole post is rathergood IMO (why not IYAM?).

With you on this one Boynton-bot. They've been expecting us to morph into some other species since the beginning of the industrial revolution (and before that too, no doubt) - but I reckon we'll still be recognisable, still contain the same essential elements that make us human, a thousand years hence.

(BTW I'm an optimist)
Posted by wen at November 12, 2003 08:27 PM

OMG - I had to ask Google about that last acronymn, w.
btw: Is IYAG a new one for the post-human era?
At least IYAG you have a good chance of getting answers in 0.17 secs. ;)
Posted by boynton at November 13, 2003 11:22 AM