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1. biject+(OP)[view] [source] 2016-01-26 00:03:25
From the jargon file [1]

[1] http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/koans.html#id3141241

replies(1): >>tarr11+ic
2. tarr11+ic[view] [source] 2016-01-26 04:03:17
>>biject+(OP)
Found this original version copied from this story (original source is a dead link) [1]

"So Sussman began working on a program. Not long after, this odd-looking bald guy came over. Sussman figured the guy was going to boot him out, but instead the man sat down, asking, “Hey, what are you doing?” Sussman talked over his program with the man, Marvin Minsky. At one point in the discussion, Sussman told Minsky that he was using a certain randomizing technique in his program because he didn’t want the machine to have any preconceived notions. Minsky said, “Well, it has them, it’s just that you don’t know what they are.” It was the most profound thing Gerry Sussman had ever heard. And Minsky continued, telling him that the world is built a certain way, and the most important thing we can do with the world is avoid randomness, and figure out ways by which things can be planned. Wisdom like this has its effect on seventeen-year-old freshmen, and from then on Sussman was hooked.]"

[1] http://spetharrific.tumblr.com/post/26600309788/sussman-atta...

replies(2): >>dandre+Wl >>dTal+FM1
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3. dandre+Wl[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-01-26 07:56:22
>>tarr11+ic
That sounds like the version told in Levy's Hackers. Maybe someone in HN-land can verify that; I can't find my copy.
replies(2): >>tashi+7B >>dTal+MM1
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4. tashi+7B[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-01-26 13:40:53
>>dandre+Wl
Verified. Chapter 6, page 117 in my paperback edition.
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5. dTal+FM1[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-01-27 02:43:56
>>tarr11+ic
I had no idea that koan was a (mostly) true story. Thanks a lot for posting.
replies(1): >>kkylin+yQ1
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6. dTal+MM1[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-01-27 02:46:08
>>dandre+Wl
Someone posted this elsewhere in the thread:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120717041345/http://sch57.msk....

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7. kkylin+yQ1[view] [source] [discussion] 2016-01-27 03:58:45
>>dTal+FM1
Yes, I had once asked GJS about that exactly that story, and he confirmed it (though maybe not the exact words).
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