2. Where – You are Here:
1600 Arastradero Road
Palo Alto California.
The original Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is forever located at the semi circular building that once stood at 1600 Arastradero Road. The first Stanford A.I. Lab resided in the D.C. Power Lab from June 1966 to November 1979. From the Hackers Dictionary: "Hackers thought this was very funny because the obvious connection to electrical engineering was nonexistent — the building had been named for a telephone company executive Donald Clinton Power."
The You-Are-Here exhibits
A paragraph from John Markoff’s Dormouse book:
“The laboratory was tucked away in a remarkably beautiful hillside retreat next to a small reservoir named Felt Lake, with views of San Francisco, the bay, Yerba Buena Island, Mount Tamalpais to the north, Mount Diablo to the east, and Mount Hamilton and Mount Hummunnum to the south. Visitors were greeted in a small lobby that over time had spawned an ungainly You Are Here mural. It had a bit of the flavor of the famous Saul Steinberg, New Yorker Magazine, cover depicting a New Yorker’s relativistic map of the United States. The SAIL version began with a simple view of the laboratory and the Stanford campus, but then creative souls had continuously appended alternative perspectives, ranging from the center of the human brain to that near an obscure star somewhere out on the arm of a medium-sized spiral galaxy.”
Another paragraph written by Randall Davis, KRD, for the 2009 reunion notebook:
"The Lab residents were used to its odd layout, but it could be bewildering to others. One day someone took pity on visitors by posting a crude ASCII-based map of the building in the entryway, with the usual You-Are-Here label. Before long the ASCII map was joined by a topo map of Palo Alto, with a push-pin and string going from the ASCII map to the correct spot on the Palo Alto map. Not long after there appeared in sequence: a map of California, then a map of the US, then a world map, then a solar system map, then an image of a spiral galaxy, and finally, an evolutionary tree, from algae to homo sapiens, all adorned with a push-pin and string indicating You-Are-Here. It was a treat to watch visitors scan the collection, getting a quick self-service lesson in mind expanding perspective. The final addition one day was a string from the ASCII map to the spot on the floor where the observer stood, providing a (self-service) lesson in self-reference."
I (Baumgart) had contributed the brain diagram, as well as the spiral galaxy.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 1972 _______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ 1972 :::: | _208 | _210 | _214 | | _230B | _230F | _230C | :::: :::: | R45,TV-72 | | R21,TV-42 | | R41,TV-27 | R7B,TV-75 | R31,TV-105 | :::: :::: | McCarthy | | Milner | | Binford | Rattner | Nevatia | :::: :::: | Pinkert | | Ness | | | Paul | :::: :::: | Rubald | G20 | Plotkin | | 230E ______________| :::: :::: |_______________ __| R35,TV-36 _____________| |____________ R7A,TV-34 230D | :::: :::: | _206 | Barnett | 216 | | 230A | Savitzky R40,TV-57| :::: :::: | R5,TV-30 | | R22,TV-35 | | R46,TV-74 | | Cook | :::: :::: | Earnest | _________ | Weyhrauch | | Pingle | | Ganapathy | :::: :::: | | | 212 | | | Thomas ____________________ |_____________| :::: :::: | "IMLADRIS" | | Storage | _____________| |____________ | | :::: 1972 | | Xerox | 218 | | 228 | 226 Lounge | 1972 :::: |_____________ |____________| R23,TV-66 | _ _ _ _ _ | R30,TV-60 | | :::: :::: | _202 204 | | Collins | | Gips | | Conference | :::: :::: | R6,TV-32 R26,TV-65 | | Orban | | Room | :::: :::: | Samuel | | Hilf | |______________________________Shirakawa__| | |_____________ :::: :::: | | | | | | 220 | 222 | | | | _226A | :::: :::: | | | | | | R25,TV-46 R24,TV-43 | R33,TV-53 | :::: :::: |_____________| |____________| | Women |Crawford |Diffie | Men | ________________ ____ Baumgart | :::: :::: | You-are mail boxes | |Frost |Dulan | | _224 | DALE | :::: :::: | -here! |__________|Wright___|______ |__________| R34,TV-63____________| :::: :::: Entrance | Halper | | :::: :::: o ________ ______________ _______________ __ ________________ |__ ___________ Wilson | _233A | :::: :::: | | | _223 | _225 | 227 | | |Zingheim | :::: 1972 | _201 | _221 | R8B,TV-41 R8A,TV-40 R32,TV-62| Prancing | | Ducts | | 1972 :::: | 0,TV-47 | R48,TV-100 |Gorin Helliwell Moorer | Pony | |___________|_________________ | :::: :::: | Baur | Low | Poole | Swinehart | o | |__| | | :::: :::: o | Wood | Samet | | | | | | :::: :::: | | Taylor |__________________|___________|_________ | | _ _ _ _ | :::: :::: | | | | | :::: :::: _____|_______ |____________ | | | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ :::: :::: | 203 | | | | Sky | 229 | | :::: :::: | | xerox | | | Black Forest | Display | | :::: :::: | R27,TV-52 was | | | Room _ | | :::: :::: |Briggs | here | | _______________________________| | | _233 | :::: :::: | | Sky | 219 R36,TV-61 | _217 | R28 | Computer Room "MORDOR" | :::: :::: |______________ | Davis | R43,TV-44 | | _| | :::: 1972 | R39,TV-55 | Moravec | Gafford | 9 | 1972 :::: | Allen 205 | | Yakimovsky | Panofsky | | | :::: :::: | R42 | |__________|__ ________________| Stuart | o o _____________| :::: :::: | Scheinman | | _| | :::: :::: |_____________| _____________ _______ ___________________________ __| :::: :::: | _207 _209 | R47,TV-76 | | | _231 | __ __ :::: :::: | R20,TV-37 |Anderson R44,TV-67 _215| | Music Room | | | :::: :::: | Enea |___| o |Feldman| Siberz | R37,TV-31 | R28,TV-45 | | Arm | :::: :::: | Smith | | R49,TV-102 | Thosar |Colby | | Smith | | Room | :::: :::: | Tesler | T |Buchanan | | | | | | | (stairs) :::: :::: | |_ |Luckham| _211 | _213 | _215 | | _231 | | | :::: :::: |_________________________|_______|__________|______| |__________ _|____ ________| ____| :::: :::: G21,TV-64 :::: 1972 (downstairs) Grape Logical U-15 (distorted to fit) 1972 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Above is the ASCII office map from 1972. This sheet covers the front of the building, two posts mark the main entrance at the middle of the left edge. Below is the ASCII annex from 1977, showing the middle section of the building, which was colonized by SAIL in the late 1970s. Hans Moravec used room#252, aka the Bowling Ally, for indoor robot cart work.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 1977 _________________________________ ___________________________________________ 1977 :::: | | | | Small | 252B | | | :::: :::: | 250B | 250C | | Conf. | Funt | 252C | 252D | :::: :::: | Elschlager | | | Room |_______ | | Bulnes | :::: :::: | | | | Drysdale| :::: :::: | | | | 252A | :::: :::: | | | | | | | :::: :::: |____________ | _____________|________ _______________|__________________ |_________|_________| :::: :::: | | | :::: :::: 250 | | :::: :::: | :::: :::: 252 | :::: 1977 |____________ _____________| ( Bowling Alley ) | 1977 :::: | | | Conference | :::: :::: | 250A | 250D | Room | :::: :::: | Brooks | | __________| :::: :::: | Laaser | | __________| :::: :::: | | | ________________| | (barn cats) :::: :::: | | | | | | Marathon :::: :::: | | | | Stairs | Ducts | & Foonly :::: :::: |________________|________________|____________________________________|________________|__________|___________ :::: :::: :::: :::: spine :::: :::: :::: :::: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ :::: 1977 | | | 1977 :::: | 251A | | :::: :::: Model | 251B | | | :::: :::: | Storage | | :::: :::: | | | :::: :::: | | |_____ _________ | :::: :::: |________ _|__________| 253B | | :::: :::: | | Ginsparg | 253 | | :::: :::: | 251 | Polak | | 257 | :::: :::: | Gabriel |_____ _________| | | :::: :::: | | 253A | | | :::: :::: | | Pattis | | | :::: :::: | | | | :::: 1977 _________ ___________|_____ _________|_________ _________| ____________________________ _______| 1977 :::: | 251F | | | | | | :::: :::: | Herskovits | 251C | | 255B | | | :::: :::: | | King | | Wilkins | | | _______________ :::: :::: | Levy | | 255C | | | | :::: :::: |_________ __Martin___| (stairs) |_________ _ German | | | | :::: :::: | 251E | | Harvey | (stairs) | people| more | :::: :::: | Appelt 251D | | 255A | | |people | :::: :::: | | Winograd | | | | | | | | :::: :::: | | | | | | | | | | :::: :::: |_________ |__________| |_________| |_________| | ____|____ | :::: :::: :::: :::: :::: 1977 Logical U-11 & U-12 (distorted to fit) 1977 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Foonly and Marathon were barn cats who kept the rodent population down.
Jacks Hall
Margaret A. Jacks (died 1962) was the last surviving daughter of David Jacks (1822-1909). The Jacks family name is known for Monterey Jack Cheese. The family fortune, however was fermented from sharp central California land speculation, not cheese curds. The Jacks fortune was left by Margaret to Stanford University. The Margaret Jacks Hall was remodeled for the Computer Science Department which occupied the building from 1978 to 1995. MJH is now (2010) shared by the English and the Linguistics departments. CSD moved west in 1995, down Sierra street, to the newly built William Gates Building.
Gates Building
William Henry “Bill” Gates, III (d. 20xx) was an American business magnate, the son of a prominent lawyer William H. Gates, II and Mary Maxwell, a bank director. Bill has two sisters, Kristianne and Libby. As high school students, Bill Gates along with Paul Allen, Ric Wieland and Kent Evans hacked with a PDP-10 computer in Seattle, 1971 - 1973. In the fall of 1973, Gates entered Harvard University. Expert poker player. Adams house resident. Sophomore dropout. Gates wrote a BASIC language interpreter. In July 1980, Gates sold DOS to IBM, before buying it from Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products. Gates is now a philanthropist. I wish to point out, that the acronym for the "Bill" Gates Building is "BGB" :-)
Polya Hall
When I arrived at Stanford in 1968 the Computer Science Department was in Polya Hall, which is located among buildings named Pine, Cedar, Cypress, Redwood and Spruce forming the Jordan Quad. Years later, I learned that George Polya (1887-1985) was a Hungarian mathematician and not a California evergreen. Polya taught at Stanford from 1940 to 1953.
Junipero Serra, 1713 - 1784, also sounds like a California evergreen.
He is now Saint Junipero Serra, reviewing his lurid Wikipedia biography, in 1752: "The next day, Inquisition officials appointed Serra himself as inquisitor for the whole region—adding that he could exercise his powers anywhere he did missionary work in New Spain, as long as there was no regular Inquisition official in the region."
Saint Serra is buried at mission Carmel by the Sea. "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Modeling for mobile robots.
In the early 1970s, I wrote software to do geometric modeling of the building and grounds so that a robotic cart with a television camera could move around and know where it was. As Hans Moravec and others have noticed, I failed at that exact goal... and so I went off to do other things to make money (in computer ticket systems), to raise children and so on. Now in the 2010s, I am playing around again with my old data using the open source tools of our day (Blender, etc) to render and display what I had wished to have seen forty years ago. Below is an overlay of 1600 Arastradero Road with a diagram of SAIL 1974 and a Google Earth image of Portola Pastures. The red outline is where the D. C. Power Building was. The orange circle is the old driveway much of which is still there in 2014. The three lower white regions is the old parking lot where I had intended to demonstrate robot navigation.
Stanford University
Leland Stanford was an American business magnate who married Jane Lathrop and founded Stanford University named after their son, Leland Stanford Junior. Leland Stanford Junior died of typhoid a few months before he was to enter Harvard.
About Place
figure Pictures/dangerous_bend.png A physical place is an event in space-time, perhaps with a locality radius and surface partitions. Psychological place is your home in a social group. For most 1974 A.I. research people, the concept of place and geometric modeling was not needed for their research work on theorem proving, speech recognition, natural language or higher mental functions. For roboticists geometry is central to moving within the environment, manipulating things and for interpreting sensor data. Can intelligence exist without embodiment within an environment? One more chart showing exactly where us baby boomers are now: figure Pictures/BabyBoomers.png
Exercises
- Finish the office map click through to person with a date-time control bar.
- Retrieve from human memory Bill Weiher’s Tolkien room names. No SAIL office document has been found showing which office had which name. The computer room was labeled “Mordor”. The coffee break vending machine room was labeled “The Prancing Pony”. My (BgB) office, behind the conference room, was “Dale”. Les Earnest recalls his office was “Imladris”. If you recall any Tolkein office name, please email it to me. I fear this founding mythic story has only four place names.
- Finish virtually driving the Cart around and through the lab using Blender.
- Draw story boards for an animated film about a day in the life at SAIL.
- Rent a memorial space for our SAIL hobby horse to live at Portola Pastures. There may be space where the front doors had been or where the breeze way greenery. A few chairs, a sun awning, three parking spaces, so we can sit and look at the grass and the trees again without trespassing. And a time capsule, six or twenty feet deep at a suitable spot. The center of the circular patterns — the building and drive way — I once logged as at latitude 37° 23’ North, longatude 122° 11’ West and 435.24 feet above sea level.