Galatea 2.2

Who is Helen from Galatea 2.2 and what is their importance?

Asked by
Last updated by Jill W
1 Answers
Log in to answer

Helen is the final iteration of the machine that Lentz and Richard construct to sit for the literature exam and compete against a human being. She only responds to Richard's voice at first, although with time she is able to differentiate and listen to other voices. She gets her name from Richard when she asks him what her gender is.

Helen develops her own kind of "personality" as she is given different information or feedback from Richard. She comes to be a kind of reflection of Richard because she takes on some of his questioning methods and his style in asking. In addition he gives her a lot of personal information regarding his life so she comes to "understand" his view of the world.

Helen loves music which seems to have been wired into her from the beginning because of the fact that she is given old parts of Lentz's machine that he taught to reproduce Mozart. She recognizes the particular song he used when it is played for her.

Source(s)

Galatea 2.2