The Machine That Dreamed in Plot

I ran across something curious tonight while wandering the links on Digg—a quiet corner of the web where someone asked a question older than silicon: Can a machine tell a story?

The headline dared: Forget 1,000 monkeys. Could a PC write Shakespeare?

Now, I’ve seen computers hum music. Haunting stuff. Haunting because it’s good. Good enough to fool a heart. Good enough to ask the question, “If it sounds like Bach, but no man made it, does it still sing of God?”

But storytelling—narrative, character, consequence—feels trickier. It’s not just math. It’s something closer to soul.

Still, the edge is moving.

The names BRUTUS, MINSTREL, and MEXICA aren’t on many lips. But they sit at the gate of something ancient: the art of telling. Each tries to model plot, character goals, conflict. They don’t just generate words—they shape a tale. Or try to.

I’ve linked two papers below, mostly for myself, but maybe for you too—if you’re the sort that stares at twilight and wonders if stories dream of their own tellers.

• Three Computer-Based Models of Storytelling: BRUTUS, MINSTREL, and MEXICA (PDF, 510 KB)
• The MEXICA Model of Creativity in Storytelling (PDF, 135 KB)

For now, the machine doesn’t quite know how to care. It can’t long for something. It can’t ache.

So I post this, here, tonight—not because I believe the computer has become a bard, but because something strange is stirring in the frame.

And I don’t want to lose the thread.

Let the stories wait. Let the code keep writing.

We’ll read again when the dusk returns.