Slopfest #32 · 1958 · Vienna
Walk, Talk, See, Write
A newspaper said the Perceptron would one day walk, talk and be conscious. It sorted cards. We loved it.
Museum status: Displayed once, briefly, in a Würstelstand window.
- Venue
- Stadthalle, in its first season
- Attendance
- 402
- Guest of honour
- Frank Rosenblatt (was very kind about the committee's light-bulb Perceptron)
- Fun fact
- 400 bulbs, 1 opinion on pastries
What happened
The committee's own Perceptron, a board of 400 light bulbs, was trained all evening to tell a Krapfen from a Kipferl. It never learned, but the bulbs looked promising. Frank Rosenblatt, visiting, was very kind about it. A press release announced that the machine would soon walk, talk and chair the committee. It has come closest to the last one.
Elsewhere in 1958
The New York Times reports on Frank Rosenblatt's Perceptron, predicting it will 'walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself'.
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