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∂AIL Harry Shershow↓Editor, Computer-Chess Department↓Personal Computing
↓1050 Commonwealth Avenue↓Boston, MA 02215∞

Dear Mr. Shershow:

	Thanks for the material you sent me.  On the one hand, I
would have liked a rerebuttal to Weizenbaum, but on the other hand,
I have devoted enough time as it is to arguing with him.  Attacking
science is his profession, while defending it is only something
I do in fear of activist bureaucracy.  I hope
you will balance your interview with him by printing something
which discusses computers in particular and technology in general from a more
positive point of view.

	Kalah is not a computer game per se.  It was
sold commercially and probably is
still sold.  It is based on (or is one of) games that are played
from Africa to the Philippines.  In the early sixties, programs
for playing Kalah were written for the PDP-1 computer - now
non-existent except in India.  We were able to show that the game
is a win for the first player when it starts with one, two, or three
stones in a pit, and to give strong indications that it is a win
for the first player starting with four, five or six in a pit.
The game is a good one for computers, because its play does not
require long term strategy or the ability to decompose a position
into subsituations; both of these activities being easier for
humans to do than to program.  I have never heard of a game called
"Haunta".

	I am sorry to hear of Doug Penrod's death, and I hope you
will publish some kind of memorial notice.  People need to hear
about a person who will initiate an important activity that will
live after him when faced with his own imminent death and doubtless
suffering pain and disability.

.sgn