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C00002 00002	∂26-MAR-75  0107		ESS,JMC
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∂26-MAR-75  0107		ESS,JMC
 What are you dng for us?  Please see me today if possible.
 CC: jj


∂26-MAR-75  0115		ESS,JMC
 I guess I have turned them in for those that bugged me about it, but
 there may be a few others.  Do you have a complete list?
 CC: nxl


∂26-MAR-75  2220		ESS,JMC
 Ginparg says he is working for Terry.  Please co-ordinate with each other
 on whether he is satisfactorily productive.
 CC: tw;les


∂26-MAR-75  2239		ESS,JMC
 print phon
 CC: jmc




∂26-MAR-75  0104		ESS,JMC
 Bill Reynolds asked me where you stand with Exxon and EPRI.  I would
 like to know also.  ease reply Wednesday as I am going to Japan on
 Thursday.
 CC: jh

∂26-MAR-75  0102		ESS,JMC
 Richard said you said you would do the interspersed commands and sentences in FOL.
 I think you should finish this, as you got of rather lightly in CS258 - no fault
 of your own, of course.  I have turned in grades and I am leaving for Japan
 for 3 months early Thursday am.
 CC: nxl

∂26-MAR-75  0100		ESS,JMC
 Please xgp my files with extension ess on [cur,jmc] (do this first)
 and [ess,jmc].  Those which ar pox files should be poxed.
 CC: paw

∂25-MAR-75  2253		ESS,JMC
 Please put LES@SU-AI in my place on mailing lists, because I am leaving
 for Japan on Thursday until about June 30.
 CC: WEINER%RAND-RCC

∂25-MAR-75  0057		ESS,JMC
 My Imlac is working again, and the fan seems to have temporarily recovered.
 CC: tag;ted

∂22-MAR-75  0315		ESS,JMC
 Hasn't the terminal in the CS Library been out of order for months,
 and if so, why?
 CC: TAG

∂20-MAR-75  2055		ESS,JMC
 I think you said that Margaret wrote a review of a book by Lilly starting,
 "This crackpot book ...".  If so please send me a copy, because it shoud
 be worth reading.
 CC: minsky%AI

∂20-MAR-75  1928		ESS,JMC AT TTY72   1928
 job 31 user sys has lpt and has been inactive for 40 min
 CC: rcp

∂19-MAR-75  1529		ESS,JMC
 3 to 6 months, more with good reason.
 CC: pdq

∂19-MAR-75  1239		ESS,JMC
 Please see me about SENSE when you have time.
 CC: rht

∂18-MAR-75  1247		ESS,JMC
 Here is the form of Ramsey's theorem Juan Bulnes should try to prove.
 
 Consider a countable infinity of vertices, each vertex being connected
 to every other by a thread, each thread being red or black.  Prove that
 there is an infinite subset of these vertices, such that the connecting
 threads within the subset are all of the same color.
 
 Proof: Choose a vertex v1.  Either v1 is connected to ∞ vertices by
 red threads or not.  If yes, consider from now on only the vertices
 connected to v1 by red threads, and try for a vertex v2 connected to
 ∞ by red threads.  If you get it try for v3, etc.  Either this construction
 can be continued indefinitely, in which case it constructs the desired
 set, or not.  If not, we have an infinite subset A of the vertices within
 which each vertex is connected to only a finite number by red threads.
 In that case, we can build the desired set as follows: suppose we have
 a finite set  B(n) all connected by black threads.  Since each vertex of this
 set is connected to only a finite number of vertices by red threads and
 there are ∞ vertices in A, we can find a vertex to adjoin to B(n) that is
 connected to all the members of B(n) by black threads,
 thus giving B(n+1).  Continuing this
 construction indefinitely proves the theorem.
 
 It is this proof that should be formalized.
 CC: jb;rww;bg

∂17-MAR-75  2341		ESS,JMC
 I just haven't time, although I am flattered.
 CC: tob

∂16-MAR-75  1757		ESS,JMC
 Yes, but keep co-ordinated with Forest.
 CC: reg

∂15-MAR-75  2047		ESS,JMC
 On Monday night at 8pm at the home of Prof. Tom Connolly, 855 Lathrop,
 Prof. Hans Bethe of Cornell, who is visiting SLAC for a few weeks will
 talk about the politics of nuclear energy.  He is worried that the anti-
 nuclear lobby will kill or cripple nuclear energy which is necessary
 to keep the country going.  We will discuss what might be done to head
 off the anti-nuclear initiative in California.
 CC: boyer%SRI-AI

∂15-MAR-75  1800		ESS,JMC
 Long technical initial messages are discouraging to the NS user.
 Future messages should be limited to one line and give a reference.
 CC: me

∂14-MAR-75  2256		ESS,JMC
 I just got home, and SOL looks promising, but I haven't been to the Lab
 to print a copy.  I suppose I could understand it as is, but a statement
 of how your production systems are interpreted would help.  My guess is that
 now the solitaire thing more or less works, it would justify a considerable
 effort to clarify exactly what the productions are, and how they are interpreted.
 Also everything should be put into the most elegant form and any awkwardnesses
 eliminated or identified as still unresolved problems in the notion of
 production system.  When you have it in good enough shape, it might be
 interesting to get Newell's comments.
 
 I think I will be able to read it in some detail this weekend, and in any case
 I will talk with you Monday or Tuesday afternoon, or even this weekend if
 we happen to co-incide.
 CC: dew

∂07-MAR-75  2135		ESS,JMC
 Please call Peninsula Mazda (redwood city) on Monday and make an appointment
 for 36,000 mile servicing for the following Monday or as soon as possible
 thereafter.
 CC: paw

∂07-MAR-75  2010		ESS,JMC
 Please phone me right away, because I can't find the SX-70.
 CC: sgk

∂07-MAR-75  2002		ESS,JMC
 Please feed Caspian.  Sarah will be back Wednesday night.  Caspian should be let
 in and out in an irregular schedule but with sufficient frequency.
 CC: sgk

∂07-MAR-75  1944		ESS,JMC
 I should be able to lend you the money when I return from Drake's Anchorage.
 I think that while I am away, you shouldn't pay board but only rent, because
 I needn't be involved in whatever arrangements you make with Whit and Mary
 and Sarah, if any.
 CC: sgk

∂07-MAR-75  1904		ESS,JMC
 Dear Lick:
 
 	I think  the new version  of the proposal  will be  very much
 better containing an executive summary and meeting your criticisms in
 its separate sections.  Versions  of the sections have been  prepared
 but the executive  summary has still not been written.   It is partly
 because  I had  to long committed  speeches to  make in  the last two
 weeks, but  also  because it  took me  a  long time  to  get my  head
 straight about why ARPA should  support AI and what form this support
 should take.   Besides the proposal  itself, there will  be a  rather
 long cover  letter addressing some  of your points  explicitly rather
 than implicitly as in the proposal itself. 
 
 	The  main problems that will  be addressed are  the degree of
 goal  scheduling  asked   for,  the   concentration  of   immediately
 producible applications,  and the  requirement to  fit in  with plans
 produced  by the IPT committee  structure.  In  some respects, we can
 meet these conditions, but in other respects they  will be disastrous
 both for us and for what DoD should get out of the research. 
 
 	Let me  try one argument  on you now,  however.  Part  of the
 research results to be obtained in AI  can be planned for, but AI  is
 one of those  branches of science in  which some of the  progress may
 come in sudden  breakthroughs.  Moreover, such breakthroughs may have
 immense practical consequences,  i.e. if it  led to  an RPV with  the
 ability to  do human quality  tactical thought at  electronic speeds.
 This being  the case, ARPA has bought insurance by its support of AI.
 Namely, it has insured a better than 90% probability  that had such a
 breakthrough occurred, it would have happened in the United States in
 a lab supported by ARPA.  One  thing it can get is a continuation  of
 this  insurance.    Let  me  remind  you  that  nuclear  fission  was
 discovered  in  Germany in  1939.    It was  great  fortune  that the
 discoverers, who realized the  significance of their discovery,  were
 motivated to  escape from Germany, and  it is a further  good fortune
 that  the discovery was followed  up in the United  States and not in
 Germany.   Indeed, all through  World War  II, the Manhattan  Project
 people thought they were racing with a corresponding German project. 
 Fortunately, the  world situation  is not  as tense  as it  was  just
 before World  War II,  but AI  has the  same potential  for a  sudden
 conceptual   breakthrough  that  would  lead   to  results  of  great
 importance.  The optimal  strategy for optimizing the  probability of
 such a breakthrough is not quite the same as optimizing the detail of
 a research plan or the probability of bullets in the next year. 
 
 	The  above is  not a plea  for unconditional  support with no
 proposal, and I think your criticisms will help make  a research plan
 that will increase the probability of a major breakthrough as well as
 increasing the number  of definite accomplishments,  but I think  the
 insurance argument is an important reason why  DoD should support AI,
 maybe the strongest reason. 
 
 	Now  an  additional  complication.   Because  of  yet another
 months' old commitment, I  can't get to the Principal  Investigator's
 meeting until Thursday morning.  This  will be the first one of which
 I have missed any part.  Therefore, I am asking Les Earnest to attend
 the first  day in my  place.  I  think this  will be optimal  anyway,
 because he will be running  the Laboratory in the Spring, and because
 I think  that  it  will make  it  much  easier for  us  to  mesh  our
 activities with IPT's  grand plans.  IF  THIS IS NOT OK,  THEN PLEASE
 SEND A MESSAGE TO LES@SU-AI, because I will be out of town. 
 
 	On the budget,  we would like to submit a better proposal for
 the same money and period as before.  After you have seen it,  we can
 rapidly cut it if this proves necessary, i.e. in a day. 
 
 				Best Regards,
 
 				John McCarthy
 CC: licklider%ISI

∂06-MAR-75  2345		ESS,JMC
 Most probably we can offer you half time support during the summer, i.e.
 at the same rate as during the year.  Moreover, I am not sure you should
 leave at the end of the summer, as I have some ideas concerning your thesis
 which might lead to an outcome more satisfactory both to you and to the
 committee.
 CC: AJT

∂04-MAR-75  1911		ESS,JMC
 I fixed it and poxed it and it is foo.xgp[cur,jmc], but I left it for you to spool.
 CC: paw

∂04-MAR-75  1434		ESS,JMC
 Can you send me a copy of your notes on Semantics of Programming Languages.
 It would be most useful if I could get it early next week.
 CC: VRP%AI

∂03-MAR-75  1358		ESS,JMC
 03-11	Tax man 11am March 17
 CC: :CALEND.

∂03-MAR-75  1346		ESS,JMC
 I haven't read many papers recently and have no vote on
 "Computers and Thought" lecturer.
 CC: phw%AI

∂02-MAR-75  2331		ESS,JMC
 Haven't we mispriced the additional displays.  I think it should definitely
 include some kind of PDP-11.
 CC: les

∂02-MAR-75  2323		ESS,JMC
 Well, I read lisp.pro.  Are you interested in proposing a sequence of
 fixed price contracts starting with something small and definite so
 that you and we can see how satisfactorily things are going.  I suggest
 you set a price that will pay you about 50% more than your last salary
 if you finish it in the time you estimate and have to do about 30% again
 in rework to satisfy us. Thus if you estimate that the job will take
 one month, you should bid 1.3*1.5 = 1.95 months' salary.  Settle with
 Weyhrauch what would be a suitable job, but I guess I prefer one of the
 documentation tasks first.
 CC: wd

∂02-MAR-75  2024		ESS,JMC
 Sticky switches are for the birds.
 CC: bh

∂02-MAR-75  1811		ESS,JMC
 We must finish proposal by Wednesday.
 CC: dcl

∂02-MAR-75  1757		ESS,JMC AT TTY15   1757
 Please phone.
 CC: les

∂02-MAR-75  1740		ESS,JMC
 Before pursuing issue of delegate safety, Marinov, or whoever is concerned
 should check with the U.S. State Department.  My impression that there has
 been no trouble of the kind Vesko fears (simply because I think cases of
 this kind would have gotten into the news sources I follow) can be confirmed
 by the State Department which is responsible for the safety of Americans
 travelling abroad includ∨ng resident non-citizens.
 CC: boyer%SRI-AI;erik%MIT-AI;sigart%CMU-10B

∂01-MAR-75  2231		ESS,JMC
 Please call Japanese consulate in San Francisco about my visa.  I need a
 visa that allows me to be paid, and I think the letter of invitation
 from the President of Kyoto University is sufficient documentation to
 get it.
 CC: paw

∂01-MAR-75  1650		ESS,JMC
 What have you done with your section of the proposal.
 CC: dcl

∂01-MAR-75  1617		ESS,JMC
 Income taand selling stock.
 CC: :TASK.