A.I.

I questioned the very existence of a Howard Bashman below when I wrote:

I know that Howard Bashman has a case pending before the Penn Supreme Court, so I wonder how he finds the time to blog so profusely. Sometimes I just think it's some sort of a bot that does it for him, but then how would you program the wit into it?)

Well one of his recent posts offers a cryptic answer:

Becker and Posner capitulate to the addiction that is blogging: In one of my very first postings on this blog, I wrote that "I try to make postings to this site twice-daily every weekday, once in the morning and again at night." In the same vein, "The Becker-Posner Blog" launched with the assertion: "Initially we will be posting just once a week, on Mondays." Here it is Thursday of week one, and today both Becker and Posner have posted for the second time this week, now in response to the comments that their initial posts have generated. At this point, all that separates them from a full-fledged blogging addiction is for someone to teach the Nobel prize-winning Becker how to add a hyperlink.

Based on Occam's Razor, I want to be first on the record to say that How Appealing is if not proof then at least strong evidence of artificial intelligence. Whatever algorithm it runs on, it has the capacity to evolve.

Update I: I just noticed the program known as How Appealing just wrote this: "Also, not much blogging about appellate court matters likely would have occurred during the day tomorrow if I was on jury duty." LIAR!