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From: jqb@netcom.com (Jim Balter)
Subject: Re: Brainiac in memoriam (was "algorithmic" vs "heuristic")
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References: <850699908snz@longley.demon.co.uk> <58qfeg$eti@ux.cs.niu <1996Dec16.031825.13256@lafn.org> <nagleE2Ip9L.9J9@netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 19:02:04 GMT
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In article <nagleE2Ip9L.9J9@netcom.com>, John Nagle <nagle@netcom.com> wrote:
>ba672@lafn.org (Arthur T. Murray) writes:
>>Brainiac?  Mirabile dictu!  Someone remembers the old Brainiac?!!
>>Being twelve years old at the time I received the toy Brainiac at
>>Christmas in 1958.
>
>      Now there was a frustrating machine.  It was basically
>six multipole rotary switches and a few lamps, with no active
>components at all.  The rotary switches were really tacky; they
>were Masonite disks with lots of holes turning against a Masonite
>base.  "Programming" was performed by inserting 6/32 round-head machine
>screws into the holes and connecting them with hookup wire.
>The screw heads were the contacts.  The disks were attached
>to the base with a long screw and a foam-rubber washer, to provide
>enough play to ride over the screw heads.
>
>      I got most of the simple "programs" to work, but the 
>tic-tac-toe program was too complicated; there were so many 
>screws they wouldn't all stay in contact at once.

Sounds *just like* an emulation of human thought.


-- 
<J Q B>

