Don P. Mitchell wrote the Markov chain code, initially demonstrating it to Pike and Ellis using the Tao Te Ching as a basis.
[1] A classic example, from 1984, originally sent as a mail message, later posted to net.singles[2] is reproduced here: >From mvs Fri Nov 16 17:11 EST 1984 remote from alice It looks like Reagan is going to say?
It looks like Reagan is holding back the arms of the American eating public have changed dramatically, and it got pretty boring after about 300 games.
People, having a much larger number of varieties, and are very different from what one can find in Chinatowns across the country (things like pork buns, steamed dumplings, etc.)
The "obvious alternative" was software,[8] running on a Bell Labs computer[3] created by Bruce Ellis, based on the Markov code by Don Mitchell, which became the online character Mark V.
[14] Dewdney pointed out "perhaps Mark V. Shaney's magnum opus: a 20-page commentary on the deconstructionist philosophy of Jean Baudrillard" directed by Pike, with assistance from Henry S. Baird and Catherine Richards, to be distributed by email.
The program was discussed by A. K. Dewdney in the Scientific American "Computer Recreations" column in 1989,[10] by Penn Jillette in his PC Computing column in 1991,[3] and in several books, including the Usenet Handbook,[8] Bots: the Origin of New Species,[16] Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other B.S.,[17] and non-computer-related journals such as Texas Studies in Literature and Language.
[18] Dewdney wrote about the program's output, "The overall impression is not unlike what remains in the brain of an inattentive student after a late-night study session.
He noted the reactions of newsgroup users, who have "shuddered at Mark V. Shaney's reflections, some with rage and others with laughter:"[10] The opinions of the new net.singles correspondent drew mixed reviews.
Others inquired almost admiringly whether the program was a secret artificial intelligence project that was being tested in a human conversational environment.
A few may even have thought that Mark V. Shaney was a real person, a tortured schizophrenic desperately seeking a like-minded companion.
[10] Concluding, Dewdney wrote, "If the purpose of computer prose is to fool people into thinking that it was written by a sane person, Mark V. Shaney probably falls short.