Mark V Shaney
Encyclopedia
Mark V Shaney is a fake Usenet
user whose postings were generated by using Markov chain
techniques. The name is a play on the words "Markov chain". Many readers were fooled into thinking that the quirky, sometimes uncannily topical posts were written by a real person.
did the code and Rob Pike did the design. Don P. Mitchell wrote the Markov chain code, demonstrating it to Rob and Bruce on the Tao Te Ching
at first. They immediately decided to apply it to the net.singles netnews group. The program was discussed in the "Computer Recreations" column of Scientific American
. A classic example, from 1984, originally sent as a mail message, later posted to net.singles is reproduced here (see also Google's archive):
Other quotations from Mark's Usenet posts are:
Because of the nature of the algorithm, the output will never exceed the bounds of the original subject matter (although it will tend to talk about that subject matter very strangely).
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
user whose postings were generated by using Markov chain
Markov chain
A Markov chain, named after Andrey Markov, is a mathematical system that undergoes transitions from one state to another, between a finite or countable number of possible states. It is a random process characterized as memoryless: the next state depends only on the current state and not on the...
techniques. The name is a play on the words "Markov chain". Many readers were fooled into thinking that the quirky, sometimes uncannily topical posts were written by a real person.
History
Bruce EllisBruce Ellis
Bruce Ellis was a computer scientist at Bell Labs during the 1980s and 90s. He was educated at the University of Sydney, Australia, where he earned First Class Honours with the University Medal...
did the code and Rob Pike did the design. Don P. Mitchell wrote the Markov chain code, demonstrating it to Rob and Bruce on the Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching, Dao De Jing, or Daodejing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, whose authorship has been attributed to Laozi, is a Chinese classic text...
at first. They immediately decided to apply it to the net.singles netnews group. The program was discussed in the "Computer Recreations" column of Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
. A classic example, from 1984, originally sent as a mail message, later posted to net.singles is reproduced here (see also Google's archive):
Other quotations from Mark's Usenet posts are:
- "I spent an interesting evening recently with a grain of salt." (Alternately reported as "While at a conference a few weeks back, I spent an interesting evening with a grain of salt.")
- "I hope that there are sour apples in every bushel."
Because of the nature of the algorithm, the output will never exceed the bounds of the original subject matter (although it will tend to talk about that subject matter very strangely).
External links
- Mark V. Shaney also compiled an FAQ for the Plan 9 operating system
- Unofficial biography
- An online Version of Mark V Shaney.
- Another incarnation of Mark, in Lisp
- All of Mark V. Shaney's Posts
- Sable Debutante, a Mark V Shaney LiveJournalLiveJournalLiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
clone. - markovtxt.c, original source code