Can Computers Kill Creative?

There’s an old saying: If you put a thousand chimpanzees in a room full of typewriters, eventually they’ll type out the complete works of Shakespeare.

Of course, computers are a lot faster and more precise than chimps. Even then, reproducing all of the Bard’s plays with random keystrokes may be a tad over-ambitious. But bashing out a script for a half hour TV sitcom should be a snack.

That was kind of what Andy Herd, the U.S. based comic artist behind Pandyland, was thinking when he fed all the scripts from the hit 90’s TV series Friends into a computer and programmed it to create some new ones.

Here’s a sample of what the computer came up with…

Phoebe: Wow lady! You’re just gonna come over to him jumpy! (They start to cry.)

Chandler: So, Phoebe likes my pants.

Monica: Chicken Bob!

Chandler: (in a muffin) (Runs to the girls to cry) Can I get some presents.

Fans of Friends suggest there’s a bit of work to be done on these scripts yet by the computer programmers. Although, those who didn’t particularly like the show might struggle to tell the difference.

In any case, Triple M Drive presenter Merrick Watts can’t see the idea taking of, saying: “If you want a computer to paint you a Renoir, you could go and do it. But it won’t be a Renoir.”

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