At their core, computers are responsive only to precise instructions from their programmers.

Rasputin's designers made a mistake that exasperates me. They brought in linguists and neurobiologists, then tried to convert their expertise into rules for Rasputin to follow.

Way to faceplant, people. No set of concrete data can ever wrangle a human language. It's not math. Language is mutable, adaptable. For every rule obeyed, there's a rule broken.

Babies don't learn their native tongue through rules. They learn it through exposure, absorption. And until I roll up my sleeves and get to work, Rasputin is mankind's most expensive baby.

So far, so good… if you set your goals realistically. Forget Rasputin for a moment; that's something I'm just not good at. If you look at me with the tiniest shred of approval, I'll kill myself to please you.

I have some issues. So I am going to make Rasputin a breakthrough construct. I fed him—should be "it," but I don't care—I fed him digitized copies of every major work of literature as a foundation for language use.