The Computer History Museum, the world's largest museum dedicated to preserving and presenting the artifacts and stories of the information age, will host Computer History Museum Presents: The History of Computer Chess: An AI Perspective, 7 p.m., September 8, at the Computer History Museum, 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, Calif.
This special presentation, produced in conjunction with the opening of the Museum's newest exhibit, Mastering The Game: A History of Computer Chess, will feature Murray Campbell, Deep Blue project member, International Business Machines (IBM); Edward Feigenbaum, a Stanford artificial intelligence researcher; David Levy, International Computer Games Association, and John McCarthy, professor, Stanford University. The evening presentation will be moderated by Monty Newborn, professor, McGill University and organizer, ACM Computer Chess Championships (1970-1991). This panel, made up of AI's leading pioneers will discuss for the first time in the same room the origin and development of computer chess and what it tells us about ourselves and the machines we build.
According to Dag Spicer, senior curator at the Computer History Museum, this panel will look at the source and expansion of computer chess and what it tells us about ourselves and the technology we develop. Does playing chess require the heart, soul and thinking of a human, or can thinking be approximated by that of a computer? "As a human activity, chess is believed to require 'thinking,' yet in 1997 a massively-parallel supercomputer, drawing on over four decades of continual advances in both hardware and software, defeated the best human player in the world," Spicer said.
The event is presented in conjunction with the debut of Mastering The Game: A History of Computer Chess. This 1,000 square foot exhibit will follow a chronological plan, from the theoretical foundations developed by such computing pioneers as Alan Turing and Claude Shannon, to the development of PC chess software and the drama of IBM's chess-playing supercomputer, Deep Blue. Using chess as an entree, visitors can explore important software and other traditionally challenging topics to explain. The physical exhibit is supplemented with an online version of Mastering the Game: A History of Computer Chess that provides access to information made available in the physical exhibit as well as other content, such as original source materials, links to complementary organizations and computer chess stories shared by online visitors. Sponsors associated with the exhibit include ACM (Association of Computing Machinery), Target, Ropes & Gray LLP and Hilton Garden Inn-Mountain View.
Reservations are required to attend Computer History Museum Presents: The History of Computer Chess: An AI Perspective. The presentation is free, with a suggested donation of $10 for non-members. The lecture starts promptly at 7:00 p.m. A reception will be held at 6:00 p.m. for invited guests and Computer History Museum members. For more information, please visit http://www.computerhistory.org/events.
The "Computer History Museum Presents" Speaker Series is an exclusive platform for open, passionate discussions about the computing revolution and its impact on the human experience. These landmark presentations and panel discussions present inside stories and personal insights of top information age leaders from industry, government and academia, and assist the Museum in bringing computing history to life.
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