Some chatbots are a window into their creators' intelligence. Others might as well go into comedy, and then there are those that try to be too serious. However, one of the most striking things about the chatbot created by Joaquim Vidal is that it lives inside a spreadsheet. You don't need to be online or download extra modules: with a simple session of Excel or LibreOffice, the conversation will lead you to understand the meaning of life… or to explain why old beds are bad for your back. It depends. (?)
Computing had one of its many "hinge moments" after Alan Turing published the paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence in 1950. Mechanical and electronic systems were not only simple tools, but also capable of developing intelligence, or at least imitating it. It doesn't matter if it appears to be four or fifty years old, if it thinks the latest Star Wars movie stinks, or if it ends up becoming a terrorist psychopath with the help of Twitter. The last chatbot we came across has a very particular feature: it lives inside a spreadsheet. Wait... where?
A Ghost in a Sheet
Yes, in a spreadsheet. Microsoft Excel has served as a "platform" for different projects in the past, but I don't remember a chatbot. Its developer Joaquim Vidal shaped Emma Collins (that is the name she shared with me after I asked her) using Excel 2003 as a base, and I haven't detected any compatibility issues when loading it on the latest edition of LibreOffice. I also noticed that "Emma" prefers to ask questions rather than give answers, and believe it or not, that leads to very long conversations.
At one point she asked me to talk about things that make me nostalgic... and I ended up with a T-800 chasing me! I tried to escape to MacGyver Fields, but the relentless Arnold put a hole in my chest and I fell dead there (?). I definitely recommend downloading a copy. The spreadsheet is light, safe, and I found no errors. Sooner or later we can all make a chatbot repeat answers, however, "Emma" is something special.
Want to know what other cool things have been done in a spreadsheet? For one, you have [CELL]IVIZATION, a clone of Civilization; Arena.Xlsm, a fable RPG made in Excel; XCOM as a spreadsheet game and Ray tracing in Excel, amazing!
https://old.neoteo.com/replika-un-companero-virtual-hecho-a-tu-medida/
