OFF ‘© MEMORANDUM © STANFORD UNIVERSITY © OFFICE MEMORANDUM oe STANFORD UNIVERSITY © OFFICE MEMORANOUS

Dare: October 7, 1963

To : Halsey L. Royden, Associate Dean ' - “, -
School of Humanities and Sciences Jd :
From. Patrick Suppes

Susect: Appointment of Marvin Minsky

After a good deal of reflection on the matter and a serious attempt to weigh
the positive and negative aspects of the matter, I am happy to write a letter in
support of the appointment of Marvin Minsky to the faculty of the Division of —
Computer Science. I know the kinds of problems the Dean's office and the
Appointments and Promotions Committee are faced with in considering this appoint-
ment. Minsky does not have the substantial body of published scientific research
that would normally be expected of a full professor in one of the science depart-
ments. He does, on the other hand, have some papers of considerable interest.
One of his papers on mathematical logic is quite a nice piece of work. His general
article on artificial intelligence has probably been more widely read and discussed
in an exposition of this new subject than any other single piece of literature yet
written about artificial intelligence.

However, I think the real case for Minsky is not to be made by a defense in
terms of his published papers. The real point about Minsky is that together with
McCarthy he is one of the few people of faculty status anywhere in the United States
who ie able to think creatively and originally about the non-routine problems of
large computer systems. The magnitude of the operation now being put together at
Stanford both in terms of research and teaching (I think it important and in fact
emphasize that teaching in the Computer Science Division is no longer a negligible
matter) le much too great for the system side of the work to be carried by McCarthy
alone. It seems to me that too much is at stake in the University both in terms of
important interaction with a large number of scientific research persons, as well
as in terms of Stanford continuing to provide a role of strong leadership nationally
in computer developments, for us to hope that the entire load can be carried by
John McCarthy, although I certainly have a favorable opinion of John's work and
knowledge of computer systems. .

I think it is also important to realize that mathematicians, particularly those
interested in numerical analysis, although they are important and necessary toa
large scale computer computation center, do not operate at the machine level, that
is,in terms of the actual organization and creative use of hardware in the same way
that do people like McCarthy and Minsky. It seems to me that with the addition of
Minsky to the Stanford faculty a good claim could be made for Stanford having in
Minsky and McCarthy the most creative team of computer systems developers in
the country.

I should also like to emphasise that the magnitude and complexity of prob-
lems of large scale computer systems are very likely to be underestimated by

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Dean Royden 2 10-77-63

academic colleagues whose research eventuates in standard fashion in the usual
journal articles. It is a hard but unpleasant fact as far as I'm concerned that the
kind of original and creative thinking required to do imaginative things in compu-
ter systems is not the sort of thing that easily leads to publication, but that cer-
tainly is of an intellectual order comparable to research in many academic fielde.
At least this is my own judgment, and it is on the basis of this judgment together
with my estimation of Minsky's place on the national scene with respect to
computer systems that I urge his appointment as a member of the Stanford faculty.

Patrick Suppes
Dictated but not read

cc: Prof. Gilbarg