Do you ever look around at the increasingly disastrous times we find ourselves in and wonder how we got here? Or who got us here?
When we think of folks who act like a god only to fall victim to hubristic overreach and despair, we leap to Mary Shelley’s fictional Frankenstein and his spurned, rightfully furious ‘monster’ in fiction, or to real life and J Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atom bomb, the man who infamously quoted the Bhagavad Gita, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
There’s another: Dr Joseph Weizenbaum, the subject of Eliza, MTC’s riveting new work by celebrated Melbourne playwright Tom Holloway, directed by Paige Rattray.
I know Frankenstein and Oppenheimer, but who are Weizenbaum (and Eliza)?
Forget Claude and ChatGPT, Eliza is the original AI ‘chatbot’, created by Weizenbaum in 1966. He was a computer whizz at MIT whose family escaped Nazi Germany thirty years earlier, fleeing to the US when he was still a kid.
Far from birthing an intelligent new lifeform – AI isn’t that – Weizenbaum was being a bit of a smart arse, purposefully creating Eliza as a software program designed to mimic the question-reframing language of therapists. Not because he wanted to make therapy easier and cheaper to access, but because unlike sci-fi authors including Asimov, he wanted to prove there was nothing close to human about AI.
Eliza was a mimic, faking its way through the Turing test, yet easily out-sentience-d by a parrot.
Intriguing! So who’s involved...
Did you have a good weekend? Already looking forward to the next one? Well the weather is promising unpredictability (what's new?), so we suggest hitting up one of the city's beloved wine bars. You can enjoy sunset street-side tipples if Melbourne is feeling gracious, otherwise, the moody lighting and cosy booth indoor beckon.
If you're after some mid-week excitement (or you forgot/don't want to eat your packed lunch), Shane Delia (Maha, Bar Jayda) has teamed up with Frank Green to bring a 'Bowl of Goodness' to Bond St in the CBD. The vibrant green vending machine is serving up Delia's Sujuk Sausage Bolognese in bespoke Frank Green insulated food containers – with reusable cutlery you can keep – for $30. As someone who's an avid Frank Green lunchware user (and a fan of Maha), I can tell you this is an absolute steal. The vending machine is restocked daily, with the Bowls of Goodness running from 12pm-2pm. However you'll want to get there early, since it's sold out near-instantly the first few days. The activation runs until Friday October 16.
The Melbourne International Jazz Festival kicks off this week! If you want to get your groove on and listen to some smooth tunes, Melbourne is alive with sultry saxophones, trumpets and the keys for the next week.
Feel like a mid-week fiesta? Bar Lourinha is celebrating La Fiesta Nacional de España (National Day of Spain) on October 15 with a massive six-course dinner for $95pp. Chef Matt McConnell will brings the flavoursof Spain and Sevilla to a long table dinner and a special live performance.
Getting your outfits ready for Melbourne Fashion Week next week? Australian label Lovaan Studios is opening the doors to its showroom for the very first time so you can shop its brand new collection, Souvenir, in person. It'll be open for four days only, from October 15 to 18, so mark your calendar and head into the 14A Toorak Road, South Yarra showroom.
Want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city for the day and really get into the seasonal spirit? These are the best places to see springtime blooms in Victoria.
Prefer indoor fun? Step inside nostalgic romance at Rebel Heart: Love Letters and Other Declarations, a free exhibition at the State Library of Victoria that makes for the perfect date activity.
If you're a theatre and musical buff, make sure you check out A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, which spans the legendary singer-songwriter's career. With stellar performances, slick production elements and that extensive setlist of hits, it's a certified crowd-pleaser.
When in doubt, though, you can always rely on our catch-all lists of Melbourne's best bars, restaurants, museums, parks and galleries, or consult our bucket list of the best things to do in Melbourne before you die.
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