Face reading: Huh, this has some stuff in common with the research I did this summer. Would also be interested in seeing someone do research on the possibility that simplified/animated faces are easier to read than real ones for some people (obvious hypothesis is that simplified faces are more exaggerated, but pretty sure there is more to it than that.) Reading up on stuff about reading faces is always weird because I’m lousy at actually reading faces.
Eliza effect: I vaguely recall messing around with the Eliza program a while back. Impression of the character was that either it was just not a very well-humanized program, or else she was most like someone who was deliberately being annoying via acting like a robot. Never got the feeling of actually talking to someone like the article describes, but did eventually get annoyed in the way you’d get annoyed at someone. Was an interesting contrast.
Hills Like White Elephants: Familiar, think I might have read it before. About as cheerful as anything Hemingway ever wrote. Appreciate the sort of minimalism in the dialogue, but the specific way he does it feels tired and depressed all the time.
