View source for 'Máquinas Pensantes' by Pedro Barbosa

Barbosa’s theoretical-practical trilogy closes with ''Máquinas Pensantes: Aforismos Gerados por Computador'' [Thinking Machines: Computer-Generated Aphorisms] (1988), as it can be understood as the third volume of ''A Literatura Cibernética''. Here, the author presents a long series of literary aphorisms, in which the generation of texts is said to be “computer-assisted” (Computer-Assisted Literature) in BASIC language. The “A” series (Re-text program) deals with combinatorial “re-textualizações” [re-textualizations] (1988: 59) of a fragment (“matrix-text”) by Nietzsche and the “B” series (Acaso program), which had been partially published in the ''Jornal de Notícias'' (1984), draws upon the conceptual model created by Melo e Castro’s poem “Tudo Pode Ser Dito Num Poema” [Everything Can Be Said in a Poem], included in ''Álea e Vazio'' [Chance and Void] (1971). Melo e Castro himself would write an early review on the aphorisms, in the ''Colóquio Letras'' (1986) literary magazine, revealing Barbosa’s outputs as undeniable literary productions. Finally, the “C” series (Afor-A and Afor-B programs) comprises reformulations of traditional Portuguese aphorisms, which result in new interpretations, sometimes ironic, sometimes surreal.

(Source: Author's text)