An expert on voice recognition and speech technologies responds to Ysabelle Cheung's "Galatea." When Joseph Faber invented the Euphonia, a mid-19th century analog voice synthesizer, people weren't impressed. They found Faber's invention to be a strange device with little to no purpose. In an attempt to create a machine that could mimic human speech, Faber was physically tethered to his invention, manipulating its bellows, gears, and hardware to produce human-like utterances--from short speeches to ghostly renditions of "God Save the Queen"--with a flat affect. One version of the machine was designed with a feminine face attached to its bellows, hair in ringlets and fair, smooth-looking skin.

It will be foggy tonight; visibility will be bad tomorrow. The pollen count is high. You have given Galatea your old wool hat, and she looks soft and childlike, as if she has just returned from a long hiking trip and is about to fall asleep. "Do you think they'll remember you?"