Asianometry A Cult AI Computer’s Boom and Bust
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Jun 8, 2025 Dive into the intriguing history of AI in the 1980s, where Lisp machines promised to revolutionize computing. Discover how government funding fueled expert systems and the fierce rivalry between companies like Symbolics and Texas Instruments. The narrative explores the meteoric rise of these technologies, only to face challenges and decline due to the knowledge acquisition bottleneck. Uncover the dramatic collapse of Symbolics amidst a changing market and the lasting legacy of Lisp, which continues to influence AI development today.
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Lisp's Unique Power
- Lisp's design, with code and data as lists, and features like metaprogramming, made it uniquely suited for modeling human thought.
- These characteristics made it beloved enough to inspire dedicated Lisp machines despite hardware challenges.
Greenblatt and the Lisp Split
- Richard Greenblatt led the original Lisp Machine project at MIT, creating specialized hardware for the Lisp language.
- After a split, two companies emerged: Symbolics, backed by venture capital, and Greenblatt's bootstrapped Lisp Machines Inc.
Expert Systems' Rise and Limits
- Expert systems like Prospector demonstrated AI's potential for real-world expert knowledge, spotting a molybdenum deposit without a geologist.
- Despite media hype, these systems struggled with capturing tacit knowledge and were brittle in practice.
