A 1963 computer art contest and Maya decipherment: AI foresight from 60 years ago
Merzmensch · x · 2026-11-11
The August 1963 issue of Computers and Automation ran an informal Computer Art Contest: both winning pieces — "Splatter Pattern" and "Stained Glass Window" — were generated by a DATAPLOTTER from Electronic Associates, with a programmer solving area-filling equations on a digital computer.
The issue also reports Soviet scientists using computers to decipher ancient Maya writing, and quotes Peter Kugel: "a good 'learning machine' should be teachable from a good 'teaching machine'" — a remarkably prescient take on machine learning from 60 years ago.
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