As enthused as Gary Kildall was about many tech products, notably optical storage, he could be equally grumpy about other subjects, such as artificial intelligence (AI). For instance, back in an early 1985 episode Kildall got noticeably irate at the creator of the Halcyon, who insisted his not-quite-ready prototype of a LaserDisc-based game system had AI. Kildall later wrote that the Halcyon’s botched on-air demo at least demonstrated that “natural languages and computers are not a good fit.”

In Part 14 of this series, the Computer Chronicles first discussed the subject of “expert systems.” This referred to computer knowledge bases that purported to replicate a human’s expertise in a particular field. This next Chronicles episode revisits the idea of expert systems as part of a broader discussion of artificial intelligence.

The Link Between the Mechanical World and Abstract Concepts

Herbert Lechner is back as Stewart Cheifet’s co-host for this episode. The program opens with Cheifet demonstrating a pocket chess computer–I could not make out the model, but I’m guessing it’s from Radio Shack. Cheifet noted that chess was considered the “ultimate game of skill” and required a certain amount of mental agility or “intelligence.” And yet, this simple computer was capable of applying a certain kind of intelligence by analyzing board positions and selecting moves.