The Science Book

288 DONALD MICHIE

C

omputers in 1961 were

mostly mainframes

the size of a room.

Minicomputers would not arrive

until 1965 and microchips as we

know them today were several

years in the future. With computer

hardware so huge and specialized,

British research scientist Donald

Michie decided to use simple

physical objects for a small project

on machine learning and artificial

intelligence— matchboxes and

glass beads. He selected a simple

task, too—the game of tic-tac-toe,

also known as noughts-and-

crosses. Or, as Michie called it

“tit-tat-to.” The result was the

Matchbox Educable Noughts

And Crosses Engine (MENACE).

Michie’s main version of

MENACE comprised 304

matchboxes glued together in a

chest-of-drawers arrangement.

A code number on each box was

keyed into a chart. The chart

showed drawings of the 3x3 game

grid with various arrangements

of Os and Xs, corresponding to

possible layout permutations as

the game progressed. There are

actually 19,683 possible layout

combinations but some can be

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Artificial intelligence

BEFORE

1950 Alan Turing suggests

a test to measure machine

intelligence (the Turing Test).

1955 American programmer

Arthur Samuel improves his

program to play tic-tac-toe by

writing one that learns to play.

1956 The term “artificial

intelligence” is coined by

American John McCarthy.

1960 American psychologist

Frank Rosenblatt makes a

computer with neural networks

that learn from experience.

AFTER

1968 MacHack, the first chess

program to achieve a good

level of skill, is created by

American Richard Greenblatt.

1997 World chess champion

Garry Kasparov is defeated by

IBM’s Deep Blue computer.

Can machines think? The

short answer is “Yes: there are

machines which can do what

we would call thinking, if it

were done by a human being.”

Donald Michie

rotated to give others, and

some are mirror images of, or

symmetrical to, each other.

This made 304 permutations

an adequate working number.

In each matchbox box were

beads of nine different kinds,

distinguished by color. Each

color of bead corresponded to

MENACE putting its O on a certain

one of the nine squares. For

example, a green bead meant O

in the lower left square, a red one

designated O in the central square,

and so on.

Mechanics of the game

MENACE opened the game

using the matchbox for no Os or

Xs in the grid—the “first move”

box. In the tray of each matchbox

were two extra pieces of card at

one end forming a “V” shape. To

play, the tray was removed from

the box, jiggled, and tilted so the

V was at the lower end. The beads

randomly rolled down and one

nestled into the apex of the V.

Thus chosen, this bead’s color

determined the position of

MENACE’s first O in the grid.

This bead was then put aside,

and the tray replaced in its box

but left slightly open.

Animals learn by

experience of trial

and error.

Machines can be

built that change with

each experience.

...a perfect game of

tic-tac-toe.

Reinforcing positive

outcomes in a simple

mechanical system,

machines can play...