?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Review+of+Papert%2C+The+Children's+Machine&rft.creator=Dennett%2C+Daniel+C&rft.subject=Artificial+Intelligence&rft.description=In+1956%2C+the+mathematician+John+McCarthy+coined+the+term+%22Artificial+Intelligence%22+for+a+new+discipline+that+was+emerging+from+some+of+the+more+imaginative+and+playful+explorations+of+the+new+mind-tool%2C+the+computer.+A+few+years+later+he+developed+a+radically+new+sort+of+programming+language%2C+Lisp%2C+which+became+the+lingua+franca+of+AI.+Unlike+the+sturdier%2C+stodgier+computer+languages+created+by+and+for+business+and+industry%2C+Lisp+was+remarkably+open-ended+and+freewheeling.+Instead+of+concentrating+on+numbers%2C+it+was+designed+to+take+any+symbols+or+symbol+strings+(lists)+as+its+objects%2C+and+since+its+own+machinery+consisted+of+just+such+lists+(and+lists+of+lists+.+.+.+)%2C+Lisp+creations+easily+inhabited+the+very+world+they+acted+upon%2C+and+hence+could+reflect+upon+themselves+and+their+own+reflections+indefinitely%2C+revising+and+reinventing+themselves%2C+breaking+down+the+artificial+barrier+between+program+and+data.+Seymour+Papert+was+one+of+the+most+playful+of+the+AI+pioneers%2C+and+more+than+any+of+the+others%2C+his+own+reflections+turned+to+the+nature+of+that+very+playfulness+and+its+role+in+learning+and+discovery.+In+1980%2C+he+published+Mindstorms%2C+in+which+he+presented+his+utopian+vision+of+computers+in+the+classroom%2C+centering+on+Logo%2C+a+dialect+of+Lisp+that+he+and+others+had+developed+specifically+for+very+young+children.+The+key+design+element+was+Turtle+graphics%2C+an+inspired+interface+which+made+the+children's+interactions+with+Logo+not+just+visible%2C+but+instantly+comprehensible--feelable%2C+you+might+say.+The+tales+he+told+of+those+early+encounters+were+compelling.+They+became+an+important+ingredient+in+the+barrage+of+persuasions+that+led+teachers+and+schools+all+over+America%2C+and+indeed+all+over+the+world%2C+to+invest+huge+sums+in+%22computerizing+the+classroom.%22+Thousands+of+teachers+tried+their+hand+at+Logo+in+the+classroom%2C+with+mixed+results.&rft.date=1993-11&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F434%2F1%2Fpapert.htm&rft.identifier=++Dennett%2C+Daniel+C++(1993)+Review+of+Papert%2C+The+Children's+Machine.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F434%2F