David Canter

Over half a century ago I obtained a computer program called ELIZA. It was a piece of software, probably what today we’d call an algorithm, or even a ‘chatbot,’ that emulated a non-directive, Rogerian therapist. Developed by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT, it was essentially an early exploration of natural language processing by a computer. Weizenbaum claimed his purpose was to show how superficial is

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A scene from Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis. Over 30 years ago I submitted, what I thought was an amusing piece, for the British Psychology Society’s in-house magazine, which invited witty articles for its back pages. The essence of my essay was that psychologists were drifting far away from direct contact with actual people. This was being caused through issues such as explorations of

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Part of the Immix Quartet playing my composition Forse un Mattino. (Photo: Author supplied) My absence from these pages has been a produce of many forces. Paradoxically, pandemic-related lockdown has made access through the internet to colleagues around the world much easier. That has enabled me to get on with the revision of my 1977 Psychology of Place book, but focus on my PhD in composition

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