COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	\\M0BASL30\M1BASI30\M2NGR40\.
C00006 ENDMK
C⊗;
\\M0BASL30;\M1BASI30;\M2NGR40;\.
\F2\CSTANFORD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY
\CDEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
\CSTANFORD UNIVERSITY
\CSTANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305
\F0


							October 2, 1974

Dr. Sidney D. Drell
SLAC
Stanford University

Dear Sid:

\J	I see your point about prejudging the issue.  It is,
however, permissible to try to get people who have independently
come to a conclusion to collectively state it, and it is
also legitimate to suggest that we need to state our case well to
be effective.

	However, it now seems that Steve and I misjudged the
extent to which people have come to a conclusion on the issue.
We have only a few replies so far.  Those from engineers all
endorse the idea and those from physicists all warn against
prejudging the issue.  No-one who has yet replied takes a
definite pessimistic position.  Perhaps the engineers have thought
about it more or perhaps their optimism is not sufficiently
based on thought.

	Anyhow, it seems that the meeting should not be for the
purpose of making precise a position on which the attendees
are already in agreement, but rather should be of people who
think the issue is worth discussing, and, I suppose, would
consider such a statement worthwhile if the evidence warranted
it.  I suppose a pessimistic statement could also be issued
if the evidence were found to warrant it, but I haven't no-one
has so far expressed a position that physical law enforces
pessimism or limited what ingenuity can accomplish within the
limits of physical law.

	Let me reiterate, however, my opinion that we should
limit the discussion to what is technically feasible or infeasible
and not take up either the best way to do things, personal
values about life-style, or the political and social feasibility
of implementing the technology.  We will have enough to do
in discussing the scientific basis (if any) for technological
optimism.\.


							Sincerely yours,



							John McCarthy