[comp.ai.digest] Prof. McCarthy's retort

prem@RESEARCH.ATT.COM (04/18/88)

This is a very cute, and compact retort, but not very convinving; it admits
of very many similar cute and compact retorts, one of which is given below
as an example :

"Why would I want to write a program in assembly language that figured out
how to stack colored blocks on a table, and very very slowly at that ?"

or,

Prem Devanbu  

(A diehard lisp fan who would like to see a better argument for lisp,
even if it is less cute or compact)

mob@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Mario O Bourgoin) (04/18/88)

A better, cute and compact argument for Lisp: Scheme.

tracy@ihlpa.UUCP (Tracy) (04/22/88)

In article <8804180635.AA09224@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, prem@RESEARCH.ATT.COM
writes:
> 
> This is a very cute, and compact retort, but not very convinving; it admits
> of very many similar cute and compact retorts...

	The essence of JMC's retort was not to be convincing, but
rather to show that they missed the point of why AI (or LISP, for
that matter) is useful. Clearly, you could not convince someone that
the problem could not be solved in assembly language, because in
theory it could be done. It just is not easy. 

	--Kim Tracy

AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, IL, ..ihnp4!ihlpa!tracy
But of course, it's only my opinion!