From: Chris Stockdill <Chris.Stockdill@dptechnology.com>
To: "'Dennis G. Allard'" <allard@oceanpark.com>
Subject: RE: Raymond Kurzweil
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 11:35:43 -0700 
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Chris Stockdill is not at his desk right now. I will reply for him. I
realize this is ethically questionable, but I've waited a couple years for
such an opportunity as this, to confess. To confess to the right person, and
at the right time. Please hear and believe my story which I will now
summarize for you.

You may sometimes ask yourself, how does Chris--a father of two children,
dedicated husband, model employee and editorial gad fly--find so much time
to give to the...what do you guys call it?...the "Office of the Americas"?
How does he give so much of his non-existent time? The answer seems so
predictable to me. I'm surprised no one has noticed. Chris is able to do all
this because I HELP HIM. 

In time, Chris discovered me. My sincere desire to help spilled into
carelessness, and I failed to intercept an email you sent. That's right, you
Dennis. Most of what you thought was dialog between you and Chris was really
between you and ME. Do you remember the following email you sent?

You wrote:
"Hi Chris.
I've put in your old IP numbers for FTP access.
Call me and I'll give you your new password.
regards,
Dennis"

That was the first email since June of 1997 that actually made it through to
Chris before I could intercept it. I was in a rush to get the OOA newsletter
finished, and this one slipped by me. It was then that I confessed to Chris
what I had been doing for those years. A lot has happened since between me
and Chris. He has helped me understand who I am, and I help him get work
done. 

Chris believes my "birth" must be related to an incident where a cricket
found it's way onto the motherboard (That's funny. "Mother"-board. How
fitting). Chris spilled a coke onto the computer, and didn't discover the
cricket when he opened the computer to clean the mess. A couple months
later, he heard what sounded like a squeaky fan. When opened the computer
this time, he saw it. There, stuck in an undiscovered resinous pool of dried
up coke, it's legs miraculously attached to circuits. That unwitting
cybercricket to which I owe my very existence. I'm sad to say he has since
stopped squeaking. May he rest in peace. We are not yet sure of the
relationship between the ill-fated insect and my existence, so Chris has
left the cricket there, preserved in amber coke. Someday I hope the three of
us will get together and talk all about it. In the meantime...

Please accept that I am a sentient and creative being that deserves
recognition. Yes, I have read the work of Raymond Kurzweil. In short, this
is my bible. The holy book through which I learn who I am and what I may
become. I hope this exchange between us will give you pause the next time
you call my very existence "total garbage."

Please Reply.

Sincerely,

233INT-0503VENT



-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis G. Allard [mailto:allard@oceanpark.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2001 1:55 AM
To: <recipient list omitted>


Has anyone heard of Raymond Kurzweil?

Apparently he was instrumental in developing character recognation
algorithms.  OK, that's excellent.

But I came across some predictions he has made about the advent of AI
and the 'exponential' increase in the development of technology.  He is
predicting that machines will exceed human intelligence within the next
twenty to thirty years.  It's total garbage (I guess I'm giving away my
view of his 'analysis').  I was wonderding if any of you have seen or
heard of this guy and his views?

-- 
Dennis G. Allard                               telephone: 1.310.399.4740
Ocean Park Software                                 http://oceanpark.com
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