Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!ucbvax!ihlpa.UUCP!tracy
From: tracy@ihlpa.UUCP (Tracy)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest
Subject: Re: Prof. McCarthy's retort
Message-ID: <7722@ihlpa.ATT.COM>
Date: 21 Apr 88 19:58:56 GMT
References: <8804180635.AA09224@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 17
Summary: retort has merit
Approved: ailist@kl.sri.com


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!