“The Thinking Machine” (1961) — MIT Centennial Film

Screen actor David Wayne chats with MIT Professor Jerome Wiesner on developments in computer research and artificial intelligence, as part of the “Tomorrow” television series produced by CBS for MIT on occasion of MIT’s Centennial in 1961. The program features the TX-O digital computer, an instrument that for the first time is enabling scientists to explore new frontiers of the human mind by showing what machines do that looks like “thinking”. We see how a computer can generate a Western story script, watch experiments in mind and computer research with children and animals, and hear a range of scientists, including Claude Shannon, Jerome Y. Lettvin, Douglas T. Ross, Ronald Melzach, Arthur L. Samuel and Barbel Inhelder state their convictions about the future role of computers in society. Film to HD transfer courtesy of MIT+150. MIT Museum Collections.