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IWETHEY Home / IWETHEY Board / Open Forum / I think of him as a Don Quihote.
Post #9,791
by a6l6e6x
Picture of a6l6e6x
9/19/01 11:16:43 PM
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New I think of him as a Don Quihote.
Back in 1964 my office/lab was near one of his labs. I was leaving about 10:00 PM one night and there he was slaving away on a DEC PDP-1. In near darkness, he had a rig in front of the CRT display with a chin and forehead rest and a photocell/optics tube near one eye. I asked him what he was up to. He said he was trying to get the machine to figure out where on the screen he was looking. His wife (300 or so lbs. worth) and 3 year old daughter showed up to try to get him to go home. He was still saying "Just few more minutes" when I left. As far as I know, he never made that work. His daughter called him Marvin, which at the time, I thought was peculiar.

A few months later he had group of guys trying to make a DEC PDP-6 with a home-brew robotic arm and vision system play ping pong. I moved on to other pastures so I don't know how far they got, but I'm sure a success would have been publicized.
Alex
Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad. -- Euripides
Post #9,793
by Ashton
9/19/01 11:41:14 PM
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New I guess we need all the help we can get..
I've been around such folk for lengthy periods, too. Really handy to take certain problems to - with caution. In '64 (that's when we got the first PDP-8s IIRC) it's understandable that one would try to fly before crawling was a done deal.

What I can never quite get though, is how considerably ept techno- folk can sail off into 'AI' with such assurances (as we've been hearing regularly since about that time) before noticing what is known? suspected about: that which they believe they are about to emulate (!) as,

[link|http://faculty.washington.edu/wcalvin/bk8/bk8ch2.htm|How Brains Think]

(Next chapter is on 'consciousness', with suitably humble disclaimers !!)

I am sure he knows much more lore than I ever will, but he seems massively ignorant of umm, what's Different about a homo-sap! vs - anything he could build.


A.
     AI: The problem is simple: people just aren't very smart. - (brettj) - (8) - Sept. 2, 2001, 10:35:20 AM EDT
         Re: AI: ....: people just aren't very smart. - (gtall) - Sept. 3, 2001, 11:44:35 AM EDT
         Poor guy.. I *guess* it's a guy thing, anyway (?) - (Ashton) - (2) - Sept. 3, 2001, 04:46:07 PM EDT
             I think of him as a Don Quihote. - (a6l6e6x) - (1) - Sept. 19, 2001, 11:16:43 PM EDT
                 I guess we need all the help we can get.. - (Ashton) - Sept. 19, 2001, 11:41:14 PM EDT
         Some People Aren't Very Smart -- People Using YOUR Software - (gdaustin) - (3) - Sept. 3, 2001, 10:16:22 PM EDT
             Also -- a lot of issues can't be decided by intelligence - (tonytib) - Sept. 3, 2001, 10:58:40 PM EDT
             Who wants to b smart?You can't be President if you're smart. -NT - (mmoffitt) - (1) - Sept. 6, 2001, 03:41:22 PM EDT
                 Presidential smarts overrated - (wharris2) - Sept. 7, 2001, 12:35:38 AM EDT

As Sam Goldwyn said, "I'm sick of the old cliches. Bring me some new cliches."
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