Recalling 1977's Star Trek Game on an IBM 370: Don't Go Full Luddite Over AI
zakkohane · x · 2026-10-08
Responding to DHH's "Luddites as far as the eye can see" post, Zack Koehane recalls the wonder of watching a Datel teleprinter hooked to an IBM 370/168 at Brown University print out a Star Trek game — implemented in APL — back in 1977.
He argues AI's higher-level abstractions and automation recapture that same sense of wonder: don't go full Luddite; harness the intelligence bloom and use what computers can now do to make them better and more beautiful.
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