John McCarthy

Computer Science American 1927 – 2011 412 quotes

Coined term 'artificial intelligence', created Lisp

Quotes by John McCarthy

What we want is to make a machine that can solve problems that are now solved by humans, and that can learn from experience.

Letter to Claude Shannon 1956

AI is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.

Lecture notes 1959

LISP is a programming language for symbolic computation. It is based on the lambda calculus and is well-suited for artificial intelligence applications.

Internal memo at MIT 1960

The ultimate goal of AI is to create machines that can think, reason, and learn like humans.

Speech at Stanford University 1961

Time-sharing is a technique that allows multiple users to share a single computer simultaneously.

Letter to a colleague 1962

The internet will be a global network of computers that will allow people to communicate and share information.

Visionary notes 1963

Common sense is the most difficult thing to program into a computer.

Interview 1964

The ability to learn from experience is essential for intelligence.

Paper on machine learning 1965

AI is not just about making computers smarter, it's about understanding intelligence itself.

Correspondence with Marvin Minsky 1966

The future of computing is in the cloud.

Internal Stanford memo 1967

We need to develop formal methods for reasoning about programs.

Lecture on program verification 1968

The goal of AI is to make machines that can do anything a human can do.

Public statement 1969

LISP is the most powerful and flexible programming language ever invented.

Letter to a student 1970

The internet will revolutionize the way we live, work, and learn.

Speech on the future of computing 1971

AI is a long-term project, but the rewards will be immense.

Grant proposal 1972

The challenge of AI is to represent knowledge in a way that computers can understand and use.

Paper on knowledge representation 1973

The internet will democratize access to information and knowledge.

Interview 1974

AI is not about replacing humans, it's about augmenting human intelligence.

Lecture on human-computer interaction 1975

LISP is a language for thinking about computation.

Book preface 1976

The internet will create new opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

Panel discussion 1977