<s>
Racter	B-Protocol
is	O
an	O
artificial	B-Application
intelligence	I-Application
computer	O
program	O
that	O
generates	B-General_Concept
English	O
language	O
prose	O
at	O
random	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Racter	B-Protocol
,	O
short	O
for	O
raconteur	O
,	O
was	O
written	O
by	O
William	O
Chamberlain	O
and	O
Thomas	O
Etter	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
existence	O
of	O
the	O
program	O
was	O
revealed	O
in	O
1983	O
in	O
a	O
book	O
called	O
The	B-Protocol
Policeman	I-Protocol
's	I-Protocol
Beard	I-Protocol
Is	I-Protocol
Half	I-Protocol
Constructed	I-Protocol
(	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
described	O
as	O
being	O
composed	O
entirely	O
by	O
the	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
originally	O
was	O
written	O
for	O
an	O
OSI	B-Application
which	O
only	O
supported	O
file	O
names	O
at	O
most	O
six	O
characters	O
long	O
,	O
causing	O
the	O
name	O
to	O
be	O
shorted	O
to	O
Racter	B-Protocol
and	O
it	O
was	O
later	O
adapted	O
to	O
run	O
on	O
a	O
CP/M	B-Application
machine	O
where	O
it	O
was	O
written	O
in	O
"	O
compiled	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
on	O
a	O
Z80	B-General_Concept
micro	B-Architecture
with	O
64K	O
of	O
RAM.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
sophistication	O
claimed	O
for	O
the	O
program	O
was	O
likely	O
exaggerated	O
,	O
as	O
could	O
be	O
seen	O
by	O
investigation	O
of	O
the	O
template	B-Language
system	I-Language
of	O
text	B-General_Concept
generation	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
in	O
1984	O
Mindscape	O
released	O
an	O
interactive	O
version	O
of	O
Racter	B-Protocol
,	O
developed	O
by	O
Inrac	O
Corporation	O
,	O
for	O
IBM	O
PC	O
compatibles	O
,	O
Amiga	B-Device
,	O
and	O
Apple	B-Device
II	I-Device
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
published	O
Racter	B-Protocol
was	O
similar	O
to	O
a	O
chatterbot	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BASIC	B-Language
program	O
that	O
was	O
released	O
by	O
Mindscape	O
was	O
far	O
less	O
sophisticated	O
than	O
anything	O
that	O
could	O
have	O
written	O
the	O
fairly	O
sophisticated	O
prose	O
of	O
The	O
Policeman	O
's	O
Beard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
commercial	O
version	O
of	O
Racter	B-Protocol
could	O
be	O
likened	O
to	O
a	O
computerized	O
version	O
of	O
Mad	O
Libs	O
,	O
the	O
game	O
in	O
which	O
you	O
fill	O
in	O
the	O
blanks	O
in	O
advance	O
and	O
then	O
plug	O
them	O
into	O
a	O
text	O
template	B-Language
to	O
produce	O
a	O
surrealistic	O
tale	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
commercial	O
program	O
attempted	O
to	O
parse	O
text	O
inputs	O
,	O
identifying	O
significant	O
nouns	O
and	O
verbs	O
,	O
which	O
it	O
would	O
then	O
regurgitate	O
to	O
create	O
"	O
conversations	O
"	O
,	O
plugging	O
the	O
input	O
from	O
the	O
user	O
into	O
phrase	O
templates	B-Language
which	O
it	O
then	O
combined	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
modules	O
that	O
conjugated	O
English	O
verbs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
contrast	O
,	O
the	O
text	O
in	O
The	O
Policeman	O
's	O
Beard	O
,	O
apart	O
from	O
being	O
edited	O
from	O
a	O
large	O
amount	O
of	O
output	O
,	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
the	O
product	O
of	O
Chamberlain	O
's	O
own	O
specialized	O
templates	B-Language
and	O
modules	O
,	O
which	O
were	O
not	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
commercial	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Computer	O
Gaming	O
World	O
described	O
Racter	B-Protocol
as	O
"	O
a	O
diversion	O
into	O
another	O
dimension	O
that	O
might	O
best	O
be	O
seen	O
before	O
paying	O
the	O
price	O
of	O
a	O
ticket	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
1985	O
review	O
of	O
the	O
program	O
in	O
The	O
New	O
York	O
Times	O
notes	O
that	O
,	O
"	O
As	O
computers	O
move	O
ever	O
closer	O
to	O
artificial	B-Application
intelligence	I-Application
,	O
Racter	B-Protocol
is	O
on	O
the	O
edge	O
of	O
artificial	O
insanity.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
states	O
that	O
Racter	B-Protocol
's	O
"	O
always-changing	O
sentences	O
are	O
grammatically	O
correct	O
,	O
often	O
funny	O
and	O
,	O
for	O
a	O
computer	O
,	O
sometimes	O
profound.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
article	O
includes	O
examples	O
showing	O
interaction	O
with	O
Racter	B-Protocol
,	O
most	O
often	O
Racter	B-Protocol
asking	O
the	O
user	O
questions	O
.	O
</s>
