When we broke out onto the Grand Canal we saw the banners hung up at the gondola quay there saying in
When we broke out onto the Grand Canal we saw the banners hung up at the gondola quay there, saying in Italian: “No To Savage Traffic”, “Stop Motor Boats That Make Waves.” There are more banners with the same message down at the big gondola station offshore from St Mark’s.Count the ways the gondoliers are hard done by and you see their point. They are the smallest, slowest, frailest craft in a city where every task from rubbish collection to burying the dead must be done by water; where the gondola’s standard passenger is a little old lady from Pasadena, California, who has never been in a boat before in her life and who must be borne, safe and smiling, to her destination, while giant ships reeking of diesel prance and roar on every side.Very occasionally – amazingly rarely, given the density and variety of water traffic, and the complete absence of traffic cops – an accident happens, and then the bitter rage of the gondoliers bursts forth. And the confirmation of this legendary quality is all the people lining the bridges under which you glide, gazing down at you with wishful expressions, as if you were royalty or celebrity or something. And the extraordinary expression of the gondola passenger wreathed both their faces, and probably mine too. Because it’s pleasant and relaxing, there is nothing you have to do as a gondola passenger except smile and possibly take a photograph. And at the same time you have no doubt that you are doing something that will be the envy of your friends – “you went in a gondola!! Oh you didn’t!!” – something that is like participating in a legend, even though all it requires is the payment of €80 and a little chaotic queuing.
An American couple from a cruise ship, Jim and Marcia from Indiana, came by, Jim crying out, “Anyone want to share a boat?” It seemed a sensible arrangement, and one of the few things to which the clipboard man did not object. So we piled in.Our gondolier was a giant of a man called Antonio, big and burly A man of few words as luck would have it. There was no question of going to St Mark’s – no question of going anywhere except Antonio’s preordained route, which was the same as everybody else’s. Gondoliers hate the press, I’d been told.So in the end I compromised. Do-it-yourself-rowing – out of the question: these guys are professionals, there is a wind blowing, it’s more than their jobs are worth As for the interview, I didn’t even ask. And I wanted a long, frank interview with the gondolier about his life, his problems, his hopes and fears.The off-duty gondolier was not remotely amenable to any of these ideas. For musicians and singers you have to book in advance: go to an agency he advised, and expect to pay €120 (£80) for one of each.
The route the gondola takes is fixed; a gondolier might take you to St Mark’s but as he would then need to get back to base, you would only get about 15 minutes in the vessel for your €80, standard charge for a 40-minute ride. An annual $2,000 prize is also awarded for the computer program that is most human.But even if Jabberwacky does not win, Mr Carpenter, who funds his project through his work as a business computing consultant, believes that it heralds a new era of interactivity. The computer Hal in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which appeared human by having a human voice and inflection could become a reality.”I suspect in the future there will be ever-increasing move away from things like TV to things like the internet and other communications devices. Imagine where you have an iPod or mobile phone or little robot that sits on your shoulder which keeps you company as you walk along the street, or advises you on what to do.
My approach is about making something that gives you companionship.”He has been running the Jabberwacky program at its website for some years, where it will engage human visitors in conversation. So far it has sorted through more than 3.3 million responses in 200,000 conversations to try to build a database of sensible responses.”Right now [the program] is still pretty strange,” admits Mr Carpenter. I was going to be difficult: I wanted a gondola with a musician and a singer I wanted to go to St Mark’s Square. I also wanted to row the gondola, if that would be acceptable. In Venice you pile into the scrum and grab yourself a gondola.We reached the front of the chaotic queue Here was an off-duty gondolier with a clipboard and a list.
