computer could parse it looked something like this, in the simplest possible terms:
: Soon you will be able to recognize these parts of speech by yourself
: ADJ you will be able to recognize these parts of speech by yourself
: ADJ NOUN will be able to recognize these parts of speech by yourself
: NP will be able to recognize these parts of speech by yourself
: NP VERB VERB these parts of speech by yourself
: NP VERB these parts of speech by yourself
: NP VERB DET parts of speech by yourself
: NP VERB DET NOUN by yourself
: NP VERB NP by yourself
: NP VP by yourself
: NP VP PREP yourself
: NP VP PREP NOUN
: NP VP-PP
: S
Once a method had been established, David asked Ada to present her plan to the lab in a formal defense. The entire group, along with that yearâs grad students, sat at the rectangular table in the labâsmeeting room. Ada stood at the front, behind a lightweight podium that had been brought in for the occasion. That morning she had chosen an outfit that looked just slightly more grown-up than what she normally wore, careful not to overdo it. She had never before been so directly involved in a project. After her presentation, Charles-Robert and Frank had questioned her, with mock seriousness, while David remained silent, touching the tips of his fingers together at chin level, letting Ada fend for herself. His eyes were bright. Donât look at David , Ada coached herself. For she knew that to search for his eyes imploringly would be the quickest way to let him down. Instead, she looked at each questioner steadily as they interrogated her about her choices, mused about potential quagmires, speculated about a simpler or more effective way to teach ELIXIR the same information. Ada surprised herself by being able to answer every question confidently, firmly, with a sense of ownership. And only when, at the end, the group agreed that her plan seemed sound, did Ada allow her knees to weaken slightly, her fists to unclench themselves from the edges of the podium.
That evening, while walking to the T, David had put his right hand on her right shoulder bracingly and had told Ada that he had been proud, watching her. âYou have a knack for this, Ada,â he said, looking straight ahead. It was the highest compliment heâd ever paid her. Perhaps the only one.
Once the program could, in a rudimentary way, diagram sentences, its language processing grew better, more sensible. And as the hardware improved with the passage of time, the software within it moved more quickly.
The monitor on which the program ran continuously was located in one corner of the labâs main room, next to a little window that looked out on the Fens, and David said at a meeting once that his goal was to have somebody chatting with it continuously every hour of the workday. So the members of the Steiner LabâDavid, Liston, Charles-Robert, Hayato, Frank, Ada, and a rotating cast of the manygrad students who drifted through the laboratory over the yearsâtook shifts, talking to it about their days or their ambitions or their favorite foods and films, each of them feeding into its memory the language that it would only later learn to use adeptly.
In the early 1980s, with the dawn of both the personal computer and the mass-produced modem, the lab applied for a grant that would enable every member, including Ada, to receive both for use at home. Now ELIXIR could be run continuously on what amounted to many separate dumb terminals, the information returned through telephone wires to the mainframe computer at the lab that housed its collected data. Although he did not mandate it, David encouraged everyone to talk to ELIXIR at home in the evening, too, which Ada did with enthusiasm. Anything, said David, to increase ELIXIRâs word bank.
This was, of course, before the Internet. The ARPANET existed, and was used internally at the Bit and between the Bit and other universities; but David, always a
: Soon you will be able to recognize these parts of speech by yourself
: ADJ you will be able to recognize these parts of speech by yourself
: ADJ NOUN will be able to recognize these parts of speech by yourself
: NP will be able to recognize these parts of speech by yourself
: NP VERB VERB these parts of speech by yourself
: NP VERB these parts of speech by yourself
: NP VERB DET parts of speech by yourself
: NP VERB DET NOUN by yourself
: NP VERB NP by yourself
: NP VP by yourself
: NP VP PREP yourself
: NP VP PREP NOUN
: NP VP-PP
: S
Once a method had been established, David asked Ada to present her plan to the lab in a formal defense. The entire group, along with that yearâs grad students, sat at the rectangular table in the labâsmeeting room. Ada stood at the front, behind a lightweight podium that had been brought in for the occasion. That morning she had chosen an outfit that looked just slightly more grown-up than what she normally wore, careful not to overdo it. She had never before been so directly involved in a project. After her presentation, Charles-Robert and Frank had questioned her, with mock seriousness, while David remained silent, touching the tips of his fingers together at chin level, letting Ada fend for herself. His eyes were bright. Donât look at David , Ada coached herself. For she knew that to search for his eyes imploringly would be the quickest way to let him down. Instead, she looked at each questioner steadily as they interrogated her about her choices, mused about potential quagmires, speculated about a simpler or more effective way to teach ELIXIR the same information. Ada surprised herself by being able to answer every question confidently, firmly, with a sense of ownership. And only when, at the end, the group agreed that her plan seemed sound, did Ada allow her knees to weaken slightly, her fists to unclench themselves from the edges of the podium.
That evening, while walking to the T, David had put his right hand on her right shoulder bracingly and had told Ada that he had been proud, watching her. âYou have a knack for this, Ada,â he said, looking straight ahead. It was the highest compliment heâd ever paid her. Perhaps the only one.
Once the program could, in a rudimentary way, diagram sentences, its language processing grew better, more sensible. And as the hardware improved with the passage of time, the software within it moved more quickly.
The monitor on which the program ran continuously was located in one corner of the labâs main room, next to a little window that looked out on the Fens, and David said at a meeting once that his goal was to have somebody chatting with it continuously every hour of the workday. So the members of the Steiner LabâDavid, Liston, Charles-Robert, Hayato, Frank, Ada, and a rotating cast of the manygrad students who drifted through the laboratory over the yearsâtook shifts, talking to it about their days or their ambitions or their favorite foods and films, each of them feeding into its memory the language that it would only later learn to use adeptly.
In the early 1980s, with the dawn of both the personal computer and the mass-produced modem, the lab applied for a grant that would enable every member, including Ada, to receive both for use at home. Now ELIXIR could be run continuously on what amounted to many separate dumb terminals, the information returned through telephone wires to the mainframe computer at the lab that housed its collected data. Although he did not mandate it, David encouraged everyone to talk to ELIXIR at home in the evening, too, which Ada did with enthusiasm. Anything, said David, to increase ELIXIRâs word bank.
This was, of course, before the Internet. The ARPANET existed, and was used internally at the Bit and between the Bit and other universities; but David, always a
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