Slopfest #30 · 1956 · Vienna

A Two-Month, Ten-Man Study

The founders of AI planned to crack it in one summer. We gave ourselves one evening.

Water-stained typed memo with a coffee ring: 'Slop to be simulated by midnight', five subcommittees listed, stamped DRAFT, SLOPFEST #30

Venue: Gänsehäufel, the lido, out of season
Attendance: 334
Guest of honour: John McCarthy (coined two new terms before the Würstel arrived)
Fun fact: 10 experts invited, 334 showed up, 1 report pending

What happened

The committee resolved that 'every aspect of slop can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it', and gave itself until midnight. John McCarthy stopped by and coined two new terms before the Würstel arrived. By 11 p.m. the group had split into five subcommittees and a smoking section. The report is still in draft.

Elsewhere in 1956

The Dartmouth Summer Research Project, organized by John McCarthy and others, launches artificial intelligence as a research field.

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