Thinking Machine - 1961 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Summary

This 1961 CBS special explores whether machines can think, using MIT researchers and demonstrations to compare computers with human learning. Host David Wayne interviews experts like Jerome Wiesner, Herbert Simon, Allen Newell, and Claude Shannon, while film clips show a child learning letters, a computer learning the alphabet, solving the missionaries-and-cannibals puzzle, playing checkers, and even generating a simple Western script. The program argues that intelligence may be rule-based behavior, and that both machines and people are shaped by inherited and learned “programming.” It also examines instinct in frogs, perception in children, visual illusions, and early brain-signal research, all to suggest that computers could help us understand thought and learning. The tone is wonder mixed with caution: the future may bring powerful thinking machines, but humans must still guide them wisely.

Highlights

• A child-learning-alphabet demo is mirrored by a computer learning letters too 🅰️
• The missionaries-and-cannibals puzzle shows computers solving logical problems step by step 🌉
• A checkers-playing program demonstrates machine learning through repeated play ♟️
• A computer-written Western playlet is presented as an early form of creative output 🎭
• Experiments with frogs suggest that some animals are born with specialized sensory filters 🐸
• Visual illusion demos show how expectations can override raw sight 🪟
• Scientists discuss the possibility of future robots with eyes, brains, and hands, science-fiction style 🚀

Key Takeaways

• Machines may not be conscious, but they can perform behaviors people would call thinking 🤖
• Learning can be modeled as pattern recognition, trial and error, and probability-based judgment 📚
• The program treats instinct as a form of built-in programming shaped by heredity 🧬
• Human perception is not purely objective; beliefs and assumptions shape what we see 👀
• Early AI already tackled puzzles, checkers, and even story generation in limited forms 🎲
• Computers were presented as tools to help study the brain, not just replace human labor 🧠
• Experts predicted major progress within 10 to 15 years, while still debating machine creativity ⏳

Overview

The special opens with a big question that still feels familiar today: can machines think? Rather than giving a simple yes or no, it walks viewers through demonstrations and expert interviews that explore what thought, learning, and intelligence might actually be. In the early 1960s, this felt both futuristic and a little unsettling, and the program leans into that tension beautifully.

One of the coolest parts is how it compares human learning with machine learning. A child learning letters is contrasted with a computer being taught the alphabet. From there, the show expands into problem solving, checkers, and a computer-generated Western, making the case that intelligent behavior may simply be rule-following plus experience. It’s a surprisingly modern way to frame AI.

The program also broadens the idea beyond computers by looking at instinct, perception, and brain research. Frogs, ducklings, children, and optical illusions all become evidence that humans and animals come preloaded with certain “programs.” By the end, the message is clear: computers may help us understand ourselves, and the future of AI will depend as much on wisdom as on engineering.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 05:00: Opening: The Promise of Digital Computers The chapter opens with a 1950s-style introduction to a CBS/MIT program about the future of digital computers, framing them as potentially as important as the atomic bomb. Host David Wayne and MIT’s Professor Jerome Wiesner discuss whether machines can truly think, with Wiesner admitting the question is still unresolved but may soon become clearer as the technology advances.
• 05:00 - 15:00: How a Child and a Machine Learn The segment introduces the idea that children learn letters by comparing their attempts to a model, and parallels this with a computer being shown letters and gradually improving its recognition. The narrator suggests that if the computer can improve its judgments from experience, then it is exhibiting a form of learning.
• 15:00 - 25:00: Programming, Instinct, and Built-In Behavior The speaker explains that a computer works by combining simple building blocks into more complex operations through programming, where every step must be explicitly told to the machine. Once learned, a program can be stored and reused. He contrasts this with the nervous system, noting that while computers and brains both use electrical signals, the analogy should not be taken too far.
• 25:00 - 35:00: Perception, Logic, and Early AI Experiments The chapter opens by demonstrating that some abilities are built into animals from birth, using a frog’s instinctive fly-catching as an example, then extends the idea to humans through Piaget’s experiment with a child comparing equal amounts of milk in differently shaped glasses. The child assumes the taller glass contains more, illustrating how early concepts are shaped by built-in mental rules and limited perception.
• 35:00 - 45:00: Creative Programs and the Limits of Machine Intelligence The segment explains how the program demonstrates that intelligent behavior is rule-governed. Using a playlet about a robber and sheriff, the speaker shows that a computer can be taught rules for physical consistency, character behavior, and even changing behavior through factors like inebriation. The point is that creative output by a machine is not magic, but the result of carefully programmed rules and modifications.
• 45:00 - 55:00: The Future of AI and the Human Role The segment opens by contrasting human control with machine autonomy, using a French artist who builds machines that do nothing to make the point that people can always shut machines down. The discussion then turns to whether machines can truly think, with several scientists offering differing views: some argue machines only follow rules programmed by humans and cannot create genuinely new ideas, while others believe computers will eventually behave intelligently and assist people in intellectual work.

Thinking Machine - 1961 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Transcription

• Segment 1: 00:00 - 02:30 tomorrow a preview of the future as it begins to take shape in the Laboratories of the World produced by the CBS television network in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this program is brought to you by AMF American machine and Foundry [Music] Company good evening I'm David Wayne and as all of you are I'm concerned with the world in which we're going to live tomorrow a world in which a new machine the digital computer may be of even greater importance than the atomic bomb can machines really think even the scientists argue that one I don't believe that we can say yet that machines do think I have a basic question which I always ask and that is are these producing anything really new until I see a machine producing genuinely new things I will not agree that machines think I confidently expect that within a matter of 10 or 15 years something will emerge from the Laboratories which is not too far from the robot of Science Fiction Fame [Music] the thinking machine starring David Wayne in a moment that [Music] [Applause] [Music] story with me tonight is Professor Jerome B wezner director of the research laboratory of electronics at MIT Dr Weisner what really worries me today is what's going to happen to us if machines can think and what interests me specifically is can they well that's very hard question to answer if you'd ask me that question just a few years ago I'd have said it was very far-fetched and today I just have to admit I don't really know I suspect if you come back in four or five years I'll say sure they really do think well if you're confused doctor how do you think
• Segment 2: 00:00 - 02:30 I feel Professor wezner I don't think I
• Segment 3: 02:30 - 05:00 have to tell you that the conception of the robot a thinking machine has been man's dream for centuries also his nightmare of course up until recently the exploitation of that dream has been largely in the hands of Science Fiction writers and my colleagues in the motion picture industry you remember a great robot in the silent film uh Metropolis no I don't think I ever saw that one well I'd like you to see that' be very nice okay Charlie Rand [Music] the [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] a that movie uh Professor is still way ahead of us you know is he he is and you know if I'd seen that movie as a youngster I'd probably been afraid of science doctor when that film was made and it wasn't too long ago uh the thinking machine concept was still in the realm of make believe what do you think about it today well the reason that's such a very hard question to answer is we know so very little about thought processes or about information that makes up thought processes you know there are many things which machines can do today which if they were done by human beings you would certainly call thinking have you ever watched a child try to learn the alphabet I've got a piece of film here that I'd like to have you see down up down up do you know that letter oh M no it looks like an M but it isn't it's a w an M upside down isn't it I'm going to make an X there and you see if you can draw over the same lines that I made make down up down and up can you do
• Segment 4: 05:00 - 07:30 that the the same lines honey that's [Music] right that's fine what letter is it w that's right good now you see if you can make of course she makes mistakes at first the real question is how does she ever learn to get them right I can copy yours that's right you copy mine well do you mean to tell me that you don't even know yet how a child learns the letters of the alphabet psychologists who study the problem have a lot of ideas about what goes on but no real explanation a letter is simply a pattern and we don't yet know how the brain recognizes patterns do you know what letter that is um l no it's a p well do you think you'll ever understand these problems I think so that's one reason we're so interested in the computer and what it can be made to do are you suggesting that the computer can do what this child is doing yes I am the computer is a remarkable machine and later on in the program we're going to see it right in original TV Western but first let's see how the youngster is doing here what letter is it help P now can you tell me what this letter is do you remember this one [Music] it's a [Music] w now let's see if the computer has as much trouble with the alphabet you mean we're going to see the computer do what the child did I hope so now does that really prove that machines can learn I'll tell you what it does it compares the letter you write with the letter you first showed it and as it gets more and more information about what is called a W for example it is more and more able better able to make a judgment about whether the letter that's being written on the screen is in fact a
• Segment 5: 05:00 - 07:30 w or not let's see okay Larry let's read in program again well at least I know what a program is a program is the rules you want the computer to follow
• Segment 6: 07:30 - 10:00 now what are they doing showing the computer the alphabet for the first time yes in just the same way the teacher did with a child incidentally for convenience you see we're using P's and W's too okay now we have those characters in The Machine we'll try some uh tests with them [Music] w call it a d it's pretty poor but on the other hand it doesn't have much knowledge well here's a p [Music] for try another P should get it this [Music] time okay wow well now that's luck that's pure luck no as a matter of fact one thing the computer can't do is fool the teacher on the next try look at the line below the letter the longer the line the sure the computer is of its [Music] answer good enough that's a pretty good percentage as indicated by that Bottom bar 80% sure that's pretty good how do you call that learning well I know that if my wife and I saw our kids going through that process we'd call it learning so machines really can learn you know we don't really know much about the thought processes and this is why I'm so hesitant but we are studying the problem it's being studied in a very many places and by people in many disciplines you mean psychologists psychiatrists um philosophers and so on yes and electrical engineers and mathematicians and others well if the computer is this important why haven't I heard more about it well the computer is a relatively new thing and we're just really getting an appreciation for the full range of its usefulness many people think it's going to spark a revolution that will change the face of the earth almost as much as the first Industrial
• Segment 7: 07:30 - 10:00 Revolution did well now this brings me back to my original question can machines think I mean by that uh thinking uh that process we try to avoid when we have a problem to solve you mean like I'm trying to do in avoiding your question
• Segment 8: 10:00 - 12:30 do you remember that puzzle about the cannibals and the missionaries I do remember that that's when we tried to cross the river with the missionaries and the cannibals without the missionaries getting eaten yes that's the one well out at carnegi Tech professors Simon and N are doing some very interesting work trying to understand that kind of logical problem let me show [Music] you problem this is Professor ha Simon three missionaries and three cannibals are trying to cross a Broad River so that they can reach a town on the other side they have a rowboat the cannibals they have a rowboat which will however hold only two at a time all of them know how to row there's one difficulty no group of missionaries and cannibals may be on either side of the river at any time if the cannibals in the group outnumber the missionaries because the missionaries would be eaten now the problem is to plan a series of trips that will get all three missionaries and all three cannibals across the river in the boat without anyone being eaten do you have any questions now barar well you may start now please remember to say aloud as much as you can about what you're thinking and you may move the missionaries and cannibals to try different combinations of them there's only one boat there's just one boat and only two can sit in it at a time why don't you take them across and see how it would work remembering that the boat always has to come back with someone to get the next load then I have the missionary bring the boat back and take one of the missionaries careful that man is going to get eaten well I guess I wouldn't do that is it possible for any of them to swim no I'm afraid they are non-swimmers well I'll bring one of the
• Segment 9: 10:00 - 12:30 missionaries over by himself poor Barbara you know I sympathize with her I remember how baffled I was the first time I tried that problem oh Barbara's bright and she'll get it
• Segment 10: 12:30 - 15:00 after a bit as a matter of fact in a moment I'll show you her Solution that's why Professor Simon asks her to talk aloud as she works so I'll have a record of what she says and then I'll bring the other one over and that's it very good that's the correct solution and now we'll go and try the same thing out with the computer on the coast oh no now don't tell me you're going to try to get that computer to do the the same thing has it found the solution already yeah and in just a second we'll have a chance to look at the answer is that the answer you have there yes as a matter of fact it's both answers we've typed out in Barbara Solution on computer paper to can you tell which is which do I have to answer that how does the machine do it doctor well Professor Simon thinks that logical processes are really quite simple and only appear complex because there are so many of them in Cascade well does that mean that the machine tries every possible answer no it does just what a person does it tries those things which seem most likely well how does the machine know what's likely well a person knows what's likely on a basis of experience the machine knows what's most likely on a basis of probabilities or reasonable Ness that has been programmed into it that is told to it in advance well what else can computers do well many things though as I've already said we're just really beginning to understand the capabilities of the computers I've got some film to illustrate this point which I think will Amaze you that man isn't playing checkers against a computer is he sure and it plays pretty well now which color is the machine playing Black the player pushes those switches to tell the machine his moves
• Segment 11: 12:30 - 15:00 incidentally he has to make the machine's moves on the checker board as well well then how does he determine the machine's moves by watching those lights on the console machine also prints out its moves who's that watching he's Dr Al Samuel an MIT graduate now with IBM Dr Samuel programmed the computer to play Checker so he could study machine
• Segment 12: 15:00 - 17:30 learning let's see what it's printing out now how in the world did it do that Dr Wier how does a computer work well it would take too long to give you a detailed explanation but I think I can give you a simple EXP explanation of the principles if you want you can make a little box that you can put signals into and every time you put a pulse into it it adds and and uh with these devices you can make adders you can make multipliers you can make devices which do a number of other mathematical operations now with these various building blocks uh and takes just a very few of them you can organize much more complicated me mathematical problems and what you do is what we call programming you lay out a series of steps and you have to tell the machine Every Blessed single step you want it to do because it can't do anything unless you do this and this we call a program we feed it into the machine and it carries out the operations we've told it to do one at a time of course there is a Saving Grace here which is very important and once the machine has learned how to do something it can print out into its um permanent memory the tape or on a piece of paper of the kind we've seen the instructions for doing this and you never have to think about that particular thing again well does the nervous system work like a computer no not really though there are many similarities between computers and living nervous systems but neurophysiologists who work on the problem think there are many more differences than there are similarities fact the matter is though that uh both systems use electrical signals that is electrical potentials and pulses well then by following the complicated steps that a computer takes the steps and stages in solving a problem can can you learn how uh or more about how the nervous system works well what you can
• Segment 13: 15:00 - 17:30 learn is a good deal about thought processes or at least simulated thought processes by this method but it's very dangerous to carry this analogy too far well if I told you all about my particular problem could you solve that on a computer well it probably takes a psychiatrist my problem I think I better ask my question over again you have to tell a computer what to do in other words all of the computers that we've seen uh have been programmed that is have
• Segment 14: 17:30 - 20:00 been told by men what to do yes but you know that's really not a valid argument because there's every evidence that men are programmed too that is they have certain built-in programming now wait a minute Dr Weisner are you suggesting that men are born with something put in their brains like uh men put information into a computer yes they're not only born this way but they get programming in other ways that is there are really two ways in which you can get programming there is the hereditary part that is the part you're born with and you can also get information or programming in your brain by experience that is by learning well surely in higher animals learning is more important we like to think that anyway can you give me an example of programming in something that's alive yes I can I've got something over here can you tell me what this silhouette supposed to represent well it doesn't uh remind me of anything in particular if I hold it up here like this does it look like a goose to you yes it does now if I turn it around what's it make you think of well if we're still thinking about birds I'd say it was a Hulk did pretty well let's see if a duck can do as well the ducklings used in this experiment have been raised in isolation they've never seen any other birds and there I see is our friend the goose [Music] well there wasn't any reaction at all was there no there wasn't that's what interested Professor melag you're seeing what happened when he first did this experiment in the London [Music] Zoo if you were a duck would you worry if you saw a goose you mean he will worry when Professor mzac changes that goose into a Hulk well let's
• Segment 15: 17:30 - 20:00 [Music] watch oh that's a really frightened deck well not all ducks react this way some
• Segment 16: 20:00 - 22:30 are simply weary when they see their first [Music] Hawk well Mr Wayne well what I gather from this is that this duck that never had been exposed in its life to any other kind of a bird can now suddenly differentiate between a goose and a hawk now you call that some kind of programming to me that's what I would call Instinct well I'd agree with you instinct is the word you use I'm using programming or at least that part of programming which is determined by heredity you see animals seem to start life with a large part of their nervous system knowing what to do that's the reason why we breathe and why our heart beats and why babies uh know how to cry or when to cry when they need help well do you mean that instinct turns out to be some kind of programming that we're born with yes that's using our language let me show you some very interesting research that was done on the Frog last year at MIT by professors lein and matano which seems to indicate that some animals at least are born with very much more built-in information than we used to suspect was the case well does it show that we're born with uh programming but what it does show is that in the Frog at least the Frog's eye reports only very specific information to the brain you mean that the optic nerve of the frog doesn't report everything it sees no it reports only very specific things things which seem to be very important to the survival of the Frog let's take a look at the next film well now the frog doesn't pay any attention to those dead flies isn't he hungry sure but his eyes don't see them he's hungry all right watch well if he didn't eat any of the dead flies why did he eat the fly on the string well you know that's what Professor Leon's trying to find out it seems that the Frog only sees things that move here Lin's looking through the
• Segment 17: 20:00 - 22:30 microscope into the Frog's brain preparing to put a tiny electrode into one of the fibers in the Frog's optic nerve you mean when the fiber sees something it'll send a signal through the electrode that we can see yes and you'll hear it too now Professor lein is
• Segment 18: 22:30 - 25:00 putting a Target that semicircular hemisphere in front of the Frog's eye and then using a magnet on the back of the target he can move a small metal disc around the target until he finds the point at which the particular fiber is looking there he's found it see it sends an electrical signal through the electrode but what's the professor doing now well he's trying to find out just what kind of things make this particular fiber react it looks to me as though this fiber reacts every time something moves it does well that could explain why the Frog didn't eat the dead flies they didn't move so he couldn't see them well that's Professor Leon's suggestion anyway he said to himself suppose the fibers in a frog's eye look only for specific kinds of things in the world around them now as we've seen one kind of fiber apparently only reports movement and here Professor Leon is looking for a different kind you see this fiber reports to the brain when anything small enough to eat moves into view and it keeps reporting as long as the object remains there well why did it stop reporting when the light went out and then failed to report when it came back on well think of the light going off as a shadow passing overhead an owl say and apparently in a dangerous situation the Frog's eye only reports the danger not food watch now as a Long Bar has passed through the field of vision the bar is too straight and too big to be a bug so you see there is no reaction Professor lean's Works suggest that the fibers from the Frog's eye only report specific things to the brain things related to the Frog's survival one group of fibers looks only for Sharp edges another group this one seems to be a bug detector well now I was always under the
• Segment 19: 22:30 - 25:00 impression that the I reported all light patterns so are we all I ought to add though that Professor lean's theories are not yet accepted by all people in the scientific Community or at least in so far as the implications of our human Vision are concerned well if Professor lean's theories are correct we would have some explanation for Instinct wouldn't we well the existence of buildin coding or Instinct was never really in doubt Al this is a very
• Segment 20: 25:00 - 27:30 interesting demonstration of it it's a demonstration at least of one kind of instinct because it's obvious that the Frog didn't learn to uh recognize flies but was born with this ability already in its brain well now if I may say so people aren't frogs are they well no one really suggests that people are pre-coded to the same extent that frogs are but it's very clear that people also are born with a certain amount of information built into their nervous system let me show you something that'll prove this point we're going to Geneva to the Laboratories of Professor Jean p and his associates this is Dr barbell inhelder working with a youngster of five by the way how's your French Mr Wayne well it's not very good I'm sorry to say well Dr inhelder here is filling one glass with milk then she she's asking the child to fill his with exactly the same amount as she has in [Music] hers Bo says you've a little too [Music] much is it now the same [Music] heighta exact exacto he's a real stickler isn't he I'm voila I would prefer to drink my milk in the tall glass I have poured it all in the tall glass you and I have we still the same amount who has more this but how do you know because it is taller
• Segment 21: 27:30 - 30:00 [Music] true let delightful isn't it now how could that child make that mistake well apparently when we're born we rely exclusively on our eyes to form our concepts of the world around us he apparently had certain preconceived notions of the world around him and some of these are wrong and as he grows up he's going to have to learn to correct them well then our eye apparently is programmed to tell us that that which is taller holds more yes and in nature isn't that generally the case well I've always been under the impression that seeing is believing well actually it's just the opposite these experiments indicate that we tend to see only those attributes of objects which our nervous system is designed and programmed to see then seeing isn't believing but believing is seeing well it works both ways but certainly believing is seeing watch this next piece of film [Music] okay Professor wezner I've seen this before now that window isn't Square you see one side is longer than the other yes but no matter how many times you've seen it I'll bet you still can't see through the [Music] illusion what's the window doing now it's revolving I know who it's revolving of course it is but I'm certain that you don't see it that way you see it as though it were oscillating back and forth well as a matter of fact you're right you see your eyes tell you that anything that is longer is closer to you and your experience tends to confirm this so you have to see the long side of the window as though it were in front even when it's in back you just can't see it revolve now let's cover the window with a cloth the cloth sides are equal in length now maybe your brain will let you see the wind to rotate look at the bottom corner of the cloth now do you see it
• Segment 22: 27:30 - 30:00 revolve yes I [Music] do
• Segment 23: 30:00 - 32:30 [Music] now let's put a tube through the [Music] window what do you see this [Music] time well that tube is bending back on [Music] itself you know why that's because you've assumed the tube is made of rubber now if you tell yourself that it's made of steel you'll see it cut through the window instead of bending am I right well I have to think real hard that it's steel right right it's steel it's Ste it's well I'll be yes you are [Music] right now then doesn't that prove that you tend to see what you believe you mean Professor that I am somewhat programmed in other words that there are rules built into me that make me react sometimes similarly to a machine yes and you and everyone else well I I think I'm beginning to get your point I am born with certain rules built into me but I think I can think that as I say I can think therefore I shouldn't be too upset when a machine thinks just because it has rules built into it by man that's logical isn't it well can you show me where a computer can do anything original I think that might help to convince me well it depends an awful lot on what you mean by original would you regard writing a television Western as being original do I have to answer that what do you mean to tell me that computer can really write a play well we can write pretty good plays as a matter of fact after we will see the playl written by the computer in just a moment but first from AMF an expression of one company's AIMS in your interest you were saying that a computer can write a play sure I'll show you it won't be as good as Shakespeare but it'll be better in a lot of the Ws you look
• Segment 24: 30:00 - 32:30 at I suspect by now you've seen enough of computers in action but let's just
• Segment 25: 32:30 - 35:00 watch the computer print out its play that's Harrison Morris who did most of the work on this computer [Music] program [Music] a [Music] [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] well I'll tell you one thing if that computer ever learns to act I'll tear its transistors out by The Roots You know that's as close to Magic as anything I've ever seen doctor well you know isn't really magic let's have Doug Ross who's on the staff at MIT and who
• Segment 26: 35:00 - 37:30 supervised the writing of the program for this playlet explain it to us well we had a lot of fun working on this program but we're not just playing games we're trying to illustrate some important things about artificial intelligence just as a human playright must obey certain rules in order to have a meaningful and understandable play one that seems natural for people to actually act out we must make the computer aware of the same kinds of rules so what we're trying to show are that intelligent behavior is Rule obeying Behavior we're trying to show what these rules look like and we're trying to show how a computer can be made to do creative work in the type of play that our program is designed to write we have a robber enter wait for the sheriff and when he enters they have a shoot it out and one or the other will die and the winner if any will pick up the money and walk out the door the human playright would know already things that we have to teach the computer by programming for instance if the gun is in the hand and the hand is on the robber and the robber is in the corner the human knows immediately that the gun is also in the corner but we must make the computer able to keep track of all these things this switch shows how the computer will choose reasonable alternatives for the sheriff depending upon whether or not the sheriff can see the robber and the robber sees the sheriff the sheriff may wait Advance on the robber to get a better shot or try immediately to shoot the robber we have given the computer rules for determining reasonable behavior and we have also given the computer rules for modifying those rules for example we have an inebriation factor which controls the actions of the robber depending upon how much he has had to drink the more the robber has to drink the more inebriated he will become so that he becomes less and less
• Segment 27: 35:00 - 37:30 intelligent in his behavior notice that the computer is still being intelligent and not violating physical rules but the character of the actor is changing as he becomes more and more inebriated and that is one of the main points that we're trying to show here is that intelligent behavior is Rule obeying behavior and there is no black magic about doing these things on machines it's marvelous to do them on machines but far from miraculous well now that makes it seem almost reasonable but even so how can I be sure that the computer wrote the script and not the
• Segment 28: 37:30 - 40:00 scientists well you know if we had written the script and stored it in the machine's memory it would print out the same play every time doesn't it no it doesn't as a matter of fact all the plot is the same the play it writes is different every time it's sort of like a mystery story writer matter of fact we've written about 50 plays and here are several of them machine has printed out would you like to see another one of them certainly would okay [Music] [Music] w [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] well I can see there's one thing that
• Segment 29: 40:00 - 42:30 the computer doesn't know in television the bad gu is supposed to lose you you know there are many things the computer doesn't know and even worse sometimes the computer just doesn't work well what happens then well almost anything for [Music] example [Music] well what happened there well you know making a program for a computer involves a fair amount of trial and error what you've just seen was one of the errors that's wonderful well now look if a machine can do all these things today what's going to happen tomorrow well it depends on many things it depends on how much we are able to find out about learning processes as I told you before there are several ways we're going about trying to understand information processing systems and including the nervous system and one very important one is working with humans this experiment is taking place in Professor waler Rosen BL laboratory at MIT through these earphones Dr Geer will put a series of Rapid clicks into the subject's ear I'm going to turn the clicks on now he's going to record the signal coming from the electrodes in the headset response to that signal as it appears on the outside of man's skull but hasn't this kind of recording been done for a good many years well no recording from the skull has been done for a long time but what you used to get was a picture of all the electrical activity in the brain in these experiments the computer lets us concentrate on the specific electrical activity that's a direct result of the clicks that the man hears in other words Dr Weisner the computer allows you to learn a little more about signals in the human brain than you knew before well the Peaks and valleys you see there are a result of the clicks that that man is [Laughter]
• Segment 30: 40:00 - 42:30 hearing incidentally as it almost always does pure research has a number of
• Segment 31: 42:30 - 45:00 applied and usually unpredictable values as well in this case here we're seeing the John Tracy clinic in Hollywood these techniques are being used to determine deafness in children another way of studying these logical processes we've been talking about that take place in the brain and in giant computers is going on at the Lincoln laboratory this is a laboratory which we operate for the Department of Defense here is housed one of the world's largest and most versatile computers we call it the tx2 it took a great many men several years to build and we're still working on it improving it all the time this enormous collection of wires tubes transistors and circuits connects the largest computer memory now operating that's the memory over there all that's a memory yes it is you know it contains about 2 and2 million memory units primarily ceramic cores in this case huge as it is it holds only a tiny fraction of the elements that are housed in the human brain people estimate that our brain holds about 10 billion neurons 10 billion yes and unbelievable as that is this comparison is probably very misleading because neurophysiologists believe that each neuron fulfills many more functions on a single vacuum tube or transistor so you have to use huge installations like this to find out how signals move between the brains neurons well you know this is really pretty small to simulate anything as complicated as the brain this gadget only has about 1,300 neuronlike elements if you put signals into the two edges you can make a wave travel through the device and study the behavior of signals in such networks that's what Belmont Farley is going to do here are scientists everywhere using computer machines like this to study learning yes
• Segment 32: 42:30 - 45:00 they are you know once an idea like the computer exists people everywhere begin using it that's one of the reasons why there can't really be any secrets in science for very long matter of fact I recently saw work of similar to this in Russia well a fabulous machine like this are being developed everywhere what's going to happen to us all tomorrow who's
• Segment 33: 45:00 - 47:30 going to be in charge machines or men man I hope you know you can always pull a plug a French artist named Johan Tingley tries to prove this point as a matter of fact by building machines that do absolutely [Music] nothing you know modern research can chew up money faster than tingley's machines [Music] doing [Music] and you know what he's doing here by pumping that bicycle he's drawing a [Music] picture oh that really is Wild Well now seriously Professor do you think that one day machines will really be able to think well I think so but people still disagree about it let's hear what a few scientists have to say about it I don't believe that any of the machines that we know today can think I have a basic question which is do these machines produce anything really new when you consider the great new ideas produced by men like Newton and Darwin and Galileo you'll find that initially they had to throw away the old rules that they'd been brought up with now machines do what they've been told to do they obey the rules that have been fed into them by man and we know of no machines at present which have means of overcoming this limitation I have little doubt that we'll be able to produce machines and computer programs that will behave in a fashion that we speak of as intelligent
• Segment 34: 47:30 - 50:00 that these will be of great Aid to man in terms of relieving him of of intellectual work that is not fit for human production where my doubt comes in is whether we shall be able to produce machines and machine programs that are capable of creative thinking I doubt very much with the usual type of human vanity that any artificial information processing system will ever be able to do this kind of inventive things I rather doubt whether it's going to be possible to do this in our lifetime I'm convinced that machines can and will think I don't mean that machines will behave like men I don't think for a very long time we're going to have a difficult problem distinguishing a man from a robot and I don't think my daughter will ever marry a computer but I think the computers will be doing the things that men do when we say they're thinking now machines can't write good poetry or produce deathless music yet but I don't see any suing Block in a line of progress which will enable them to in the long run I'm convinced that machines can and will think In Our Lifetime well now that's pretty unnerving stuff don't you think it's going to have tremendous repercussions in the days to come I'm sure that it will it's going to have many effects direct and indirect what would you say those effect effects would be well in the Direct effects we're going to put machines to work for us in many ways by indirect I mean that we're going to learn many things while we work with the computers that will help us in other fields that we're interested in for example in the field of Mental Health social problems and economic problems just to mention a few well H how do we put the computer specifically to work well you know my colleague at MIT Professor Norbert weiner says we're living through the Second Industrial
• Segment 35: 47:30 - 50:00 Revolution today the first Industrial Revolution being the replacement of manual labor by Machinery that's right mhm and the second then you say will be the assistance of the human Mind by the computer and I'm certain that as time goes on we're going to find ways to do many things using the computer which the uned mind just could not do by itself the future of the computer is just hard to imagine let's listen now to Professor Shannon who we heard briefly at the beginning of the program and also I wantd like you to remember that when he talks about robots he doesn't mean well a pretty girl like our good friend Dr Ro Vang yes Ro Vang created at the beginning of the program but what he
• Segment 36: 50:00 - 52:30 really means is machines that can do things that man wants them to do in discussing the problem of simulating the human brain on a Computing machine we must carefully distinguish between the accomplishments of the past and what we hope to do in the future certainly the accomplishments of the past have been most impressive we have machines that will translate to some extent from one language to another machines that will prove mathematical theorems machines that will play chess or Checkers sometimes even better than the men who designed them these however are in the line of special purpose computers aimed at particular specific problems but we would like in the future is a more general computing system capable of learning by experience and forming inductive and deductive thoughts this would probably consist of three main parts in the first place there would be sense organs akin to the human eye or ear whereby the machine can take cognizance of events in its environment in the second place there would be a large general purpose flexible computer programmed to learn from experience to form Concepts and capable of doing logic in the third place there will be output devices devices in the nature of the human hand capable of allowing the machine to make use of the thoughts that it had of the cognitive processes in order to actually affect the environment work is going on in all of these fronts simultaneously and Rapid progress is being made I confidently expect that within 10 or 15 years we will find emerging from the Laboratories something not too far from the robot of Science Fiction Fame in any case whatever the result this is certainly one of the most challenging and exciting areas of modern scientific work exciting and challenging but doesn't it worry well sure it worries me but you know the problems posed by the computer are really no different than
• Segment 37: 50:00 - 52:30 the problems we have with other products of Technology it's going to take a great deal of wisdom on our part to manage them but if we do we're going to make a much better world thank you Dr we the story of the next tomorrow program in a moment but first a word from AMF American machine and Foundry Company next month over many of these same
• Segment 38: 52:30 - 55:00 stations tomorrow will present big city 1980 a picture of the city you will live in tomorrow check your local listings for the [Music] time [Music] oh