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                                      Friday, 10 August, 1984

Professor John McCarthy
Computer Science Department
Building 460, Rm 356
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305

Dear John,

I was recently in the Soviet Union, where I met with various
leaders in the Academy of Sciences and in Government.  While
there, I held frank discussions about Sakharov with Academician
Guri Marchuk, who holds several portfolios:  Chairman of the
Council of Ministers, Deputy Premier and the Head of the State
Ministry for Science and Technology.  During our talks, I made
a proposal that involved the possible interaction of American, 
European and Japanese specialists in the field of Artificial
Intelligence with their counterparts from the Socialist
Countries.  The proposal is as follows:

1.  Guri Marchuk and I will undertake to organize a meeting, on
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, to be held in Bratislava, 
Czechoslovakia, about 40 miles from Vienna; the date of the
meeting is yet to be determined.

2.  Marchuk will handle all aspects on the part of the
Socialist side; they will act as hosts for the conference.

3.  I am to arrange for the participation of the Western
attendees.

4.  We will be jointly responsible for the program.

5.  While we shall proceed with the planning, the actual
conference will not occur, except under certain circumstances. 
The announcement that the conference will take place, with
Western participation, will not be made except as an event that
more or less accompanies some step from the USSR with regard to
certain issues of great concern to Western computer scientists.

6.  Examples of such positive steps might include the
emigration of someone like Lerner or some resolution of the
Sakharov situation.

7.  The point of all this is for one side to be able to
immediately respond with a positive gesture to a positive step
by the other side.




                                                     Page 2



Since I am returning to Moscow on August 26th for further
discussions, I am writing to ask if you will tell me the
conditions under which you would be willing to attend such a
meeting, provided that the timing was convenient, and your
expenses were provided for.  If appropriate, the Meeting would
be held at the International Basic Laboratory for Artificial
Intelligence, in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.  The local host
would be Professor Ivan Plander, the Director of the
Laboratory.  The Bratislava Laboratory was established in 1982, 
it now has a research staff of about 25 scientists, drawn from
the Socialist Countries.  The subject of the meeting would
include scientific papers on Artificial Intelligence and 
Robotics, and general discussions on an International Center
for Research in Artificial Intelligence.  While detailed
arrangments have not been made, I think that it will be
possible to stay in Bratislava, at low cost, and some travel
money may be available.

In order to categorize your reaction, I have included the
following possible responses:

A.  I am willing to participate in such a meeting, without any
preconditions.

B.  I will not be able to participate in such a meeting.

C.  I will not participate in such a meeting, because of
matters of conscience.

D.  I would be willing to participate in such a meeting as a
reciprocal positive step, associated with a positive step on
the part of the USSR.

If D, above, is an appropriate response, then please give some
indication of what you see as a reasonable positive step on the
part of the USSR.

E.  Allowing Lerner or other "refusenik" computer scientists to
emigrate.

F.  Freeing Scharansky or other persons who are in similar
circumstances.

G.  Resolving the Sakharov dilemma, so that this issue is no
longer a matter of such great concern to Western or Japanese
scientists.

H.  Some event, which in Ed Fredkin's judgement is sufficient
cause for deciding that there will be a meeting in Bratislava, 
attended by participants from the West.



                                                      Page 3




Please feel free to state your own personal reactions or 
opinions.  If it's convenient, you can just mark up the
previous page, add comments on the back, and return it to me. 
Since I will be leaving for Moscow on August 24th, please try
to respond in time, by phone if necessary.

The goal is not to address every matter of Soviet policy that
might offend you, but to see one small positive step taken by
one side, followed by another small positive step taken by the
other side.  Of course, It is clearly understood that even if
you indicate that you would be willing to come under certain
conditions, other circumstances, such as calendar conflicts or 
a lack of travel funds could still make your attendance
impossible.

I plan to summarize information received from you and others, 
without identifying the sources.  When in Moscow, I will show
Acadamician Marchuk this form letter, along with the summaries
and comments.




Sincerely Yours,

←λ ←λ ←λ ←λ ←λ ←λ ←λ ←λ 

Edward Fredkin
Brookline, MA,  USA