Classic Feynman. I read it every year with my CS students. But let's give it some context.
Von Neumann had delivered his talk "Computers and the Brain" only two years earlier where he referred to the components of a computer in biological terms -- "organelles", "the brain", etc.
No CRTs, mice, hard disk drives, or timeshare O/S. Internal memory was magnetic "core memory."
Kilby and Noyce had invented the integrated circuit a year earlier. The "old guard" i.e. Ken Olsen, Bob Metcalfe, and others were still in school. Grace Hopper thought it might be a good idea to "compile" code.
And here comes this guy from CalTech thinking it would be cool to have ants project manage aphids so The Library of Congress could fit on a credit card.
Am I wrong or could this world use a few more human beings "out there on the curve."
Amazingly, his motor challenge was quickly met by a meticulous craftsman using conventional tools; the motor met the conditions, but did not advance the art. In 1985, Tom Newman, a Stanford grad student, successfully reduced the first paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities by 1/25,000, and collected the second Feynman prize.
Von Neumann had delivered his talk "Computers and the Brain" only two years earlier where he referred to the components of a computer in biological terms -- "organelles", "the brain", etc.
No CRTs, mice, hard disk drives, or timeshare O/S. Internal memory was magnetic "core memory."
Kilby and Noyce had invented the integrated circuit a year earlier. The "old guard" i.e. Ken Olsen, Bob Metcalfe, and others were still in school. Grace Hopper thought it might be a good idea to "compile" code.
And here comes this guy from CalTech thinking it would be cool to have ants project manage aphids so The Library of Congress could fit on a credit card.
Am I wrong or could this world use a few more human beings "out there on the curve."