This inquiry examines a technique for automatically classifying (indexing) documents according to their subject content. The task, in essence, is to have a computing machine read a document and on the basis of the occurrence of selected clue words decide to which of many subject categories the document in question belongs. This paper describes the design, execution and evaluation of a modest experimental study aimed at testing empirically one statistical technique for automatic indexing.

The purpose of this report is to describe in detail an informationProcessing model of elementary human symbolic learning processes. Thismodel is realized by a computer program called the Elementary Perceiverand Memorizer (EPAM).The EPAM program is the precise statement of an information processingtheory of verbal learning that provides an alternative to other verballearning theories which have been proposed.1 It is the result of an attemptto state quite precisely a parsimonious and plausible mechanism sufficientto account for the rote learning of nonsense syllables. The criticalevaluation of EPAM must ultimately depend not upon the interest whichit may have as a learning machine, but upon its ability to explain andPredict the phenomena of verbal learning. Proceedings of the Western Joint Computer Conference, 1961, 19:121-132. Reprinted in Feigenbaum & Feldman, Computers and Thought (1963).

IRE International Convention Record, pt 2, pp. 66-70

Report VG-1196-G-4, Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory.

The hope that mathematical methods employed in the investigation of formal logic would lead to purely computational methods for obtaining mathematical theorems goes back to Leibniz and has been revived by Peano around the turn of the century and by Hilbert's school in the 1920's. Hilbert, noting that all of classical mathematics could be formalized within quantification theory, declared that the problem of finding an algorithm for determining whether or not a given formula of quantification theory is valid was the central problem of mathematical logic. And indeed, at one time it seemed as if investigations of this "decision" problem were on the verge of success. However, it was shown by Church and by Turing that such an algorithm can not exist. This result led to considerable pessimism regarding the possibility of using modern digital computers in deciding significant mathematical questions.

CACM, 7, 219–244.

In von Foerster, H. (ed) Illinois Symposium on Principles of Self-Organization, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (1960)

A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

Man-computer symbiosis is an expected development in cooperative interaction between men and electronic computers. It will involve very close coupling between the human and the electronic members of the partnership. The main aims are 1) to let computers facilitate formulative thinking as they now facilitate the solution of formulated problems, and 2) to enable men and computers to cooperate in making decisions and controlling complex situations without inflexible dependence on predetermined programs. In the anticipated symbiotic partnership, men will set the goals, formulate the hypotheses, determine the criteria, and perform the evaluations. Computing machines will do the routinizable work that must be done to prepare the way for insights and decisions in technical and scientific thinking. Preliminary analyses indicate that the symbiotic partnership will perform intellectual operations much more effectively than man alone can perform them. Prerequisites for the achievement of the effective, cooperative association include developments in computer time sharing, in memory components, in memory organization, in programming languages, and in input and output equipment. IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, HFE-1, pp 4-11. See also: ACM Digital Library citation: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=612433.

This is an attempt to analyze attitudes and arguments brought forth by questions like "Can machines think?" and "Can machines exhibit intelligence?" Its purpose is to improve the climate which surrounds research in the field of machine or artificial intelligence. Its goal is not to convince those who answer the above questions negatively that they are wrong (although an attempt will be made to refute some of the negative arguments) but that they should be tolerant of research investigating these questions. The negative attitudes existent today tend to inhibit such research.Reprinted in Feigenbaum & Feldman, Computers and Thought (1963).Also in Datamation 9(3), March 1963, pp.34-38.Symposium on Bionics, Rand Technical Report 60 600, pp. 13-19