question about viruses

From: blstuart_at_bellsouth.net <(blstuart_at_bellsouth.net)>
Date: Thu Feb 18 20:15:53 1999

In message <01be5b3b$65657aa0$d3c962cf_at_devlaptop>, "Mike" writes:
>Speaking of _Adikesence of P1_ .... Does anyone know the SciAm issue date
>for the referenced matchbook neural net ???

It's been a long time since I read the book (I really should
read it again, now that the subject has come up). But if
he're refering to the article I think, it's by Martin
Gardner. Unfortunately, I can't find a full reference.
(Somewhere I've got a photocopy of it, but I can't find it
right now.) Anyway, I do find that it came from a 1962 issue.

In the article, Gardner defines (I can't remember if he references
anyone else) a simple game played with six pawns played on a 3x3
board. Using 24 matchboxes, he shows a learning machine called
Hexapawn Educational Robot (HER).

I've got a fond spot in my heart for this one of Gardner's
articles. A simplified version was printed under the title
"How to Play Hexapawn" in the collection called *The New Reader's
Digest Treasury for Young Readers,* a copy of which was given to
me by a relative when I was a kid. It sparked my interest in AI
which reached it climax about seven years ago when I defended my
dissertation in machine learning.

Brian L. Stuart
Received on Thu Feb 18 1999 - 20:15:53 GMT