h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah, I like that idea, Pastey. Rather like what Avast! does. Right now, I have it set on 'redneck', or some such, but I used to have it set to announce my updates in Romanian.

It does Pirate talk, as well.

damn. I'm going to have to change back to Avast on learnign that

If Eddie were to respond to the mood of the site, then researchers might become more despondent as a reaction to Eddie's behavior, and a feedback loop of surliness might ensue. What might the eventual outcome be? A refusal to sign up newbies?

We could post Eddie on a timelag, that would be really confusing

Eddie could be like that lift that refused to go up, and suggest, 'Are you sure you don't want to write for W*k*pedia?'

Yep. The idea of a Starship Titanic like AI is... interesting.

If not Eddie... how about talky toaster from RD? mmmmmmmm... toast....

How ironic that the actual Book Of The Future has vanished forever since h2g2 was moved from the BBC...

Which Book of the Future was that?

Towards the end of 2002 the BBC decided to put Douglas Adams' idea for a book of predictions online, the results to be published as an actual book to raise money for Comic Relief. There were several thousand entries as far as I can remember plus an entertaining selection of conversations. Many Hootooers were involved, as it seemed very much part of h2g2. 75 of the articles were voted into the finished product, almost all of them being written by people involved in organizing the site or being regular contributers to the community conversations (including me). These are now the only evidence that the project ever existed. There were dozens of brilliant articles that I read that didn't make it in and those along with most of the conversations were presumably wiped from the BBC memory banks when the site was moved.

Book of the Future disappeared a few years before we moved, I think. Which I was slightly annoyed about at the time, I wrote something for it that got picked.

I did buy a hardcopy of the Book, so I can prove it existed!


Geggs

Was it within h2g2 itself or another part of the monster that the DNA system became?

It was another part of DNA. One of the many uses to which the BBC put it. What else was there? ICan(something like that anyway), something for Danny Wallace's How to Build a Country show, possibly tens of other bits too...


Geggs

There were a *lot* and there still are.

Children's BBC message boards are still run on it, and I keep finding bits and pieces all over their servers while I'm working.