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\F2\CSTANFORD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY
\CDEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
\CSTANFORD UNIVERSITY
\CSTANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305
\F0

						

							September 19, 1974

Professor Murray Gell-Mann
Department of Physics
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California 91109

Dear Murray:

\J	I found our telephone conversation quite stimulating
and have the following remarks:

	1. It seems to me that there are two sources of diversity
in ways of life: diversity arising from the force of diverse
material circumstances, and diversity stemming from individual
inclinations and the influence of diverse ideas.  The former is
on its way down as material circumstance becomes less restricting.
(When I saw an Eskimo carry a watermelon out of the general store
in Barrow, Alaska, it immediately came into my mind to buy another
and offer it to some Eskimo children if they would let me photograph
them sitting on the pack ice eating it in the classical pickaninny
style, but I feared I couldn't carry it off without giving offence
to someone).  The latter should be on its way up as more people
have more options, but I couldn't prove it.

	2. I have not met Dyson and have read only a few of his
things, but I imagine you do him an injustice.  I have met O'Neill,
and my complaint about him is that along with his technological
fantasy that involves too much wishful thinking, he shares
the widespread nostalgia for the simple rural life.  It seems that
he envisions people making an enormously sophisticated technological
effort in order to live like peasants.

	3. Quite clearly my worries and fantasies are different
from yours.  My hope is that an improved technology aimed at
aiding human individuality will lead to more interesting and
varied lives.  Some ideas for this are expressed in some of the
essays that are enclosed.  My worry is that the current pessimistic
intellectual mood will prevent the necessary increase in prosperity
and technological capability.

	4. Our conversation was too short for me to understand
the precise nature of your concerns about loss of diversity
and spiritual values.  I am not even sure these are the words
you used.  Some of my concerns about your concerns are speculations
based on other peoples' programs for dealing with such problems.
Concern over the American middle class having materialistic values
stands on two legs.  The first is the mistaken belief that it
is not feasible to continue our present energy and material
flow and increase it, and that it is infeasible for other countries
to follow our example.  As you said, this is not the main issue,
and the people who express these fears most strongly generally
are more interested in getting us to repent than to try to solve
the technological problems.  The other concern is a belief that
a simpler life it better for us.  Well, sometimes I like my
possessions and at other times I feel entangled in them.  I can
well believe that other people may feel this more strongly and
more constantly than I do, but it seems to me that they are
substantially free to shed what they find encumbering and
are also free to try to persuade others to do likewise.  What
worries me is the moralistic attack on people who like
posessions and a desire to get the government to promote
their ideology.  Russell Train's article in \F1Science\F0 of
June 7, 1974 on energy policy expresses this to some extent.
This seems tyrannical to me and also seems to counter the
desire for diversity.

	I enclose a statement of "technological optimism" that
I am promoting at Stanford and would be glad to have your
reaction.  I will also send you a copy of some essays on
\F1Technology and the Pursuit of Happiness\F0 as soon as the
next version comes out of the computer.\.


							Sincerely yours,



							John McCarthy
							Director, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
							Professor of Computer Science