> > Machine learning was definitely nonexistent at that point.

> Are you sure about that?

Incredible statement to make, not only did machine learning exist, but neural networks existed!

The first perceptrons were built in the 50s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptron

If you take a machine learning class, what is the most basic network you will probably build/learn about as an introduction? The MLP - multi-layer perceptron.

It's not even remotely obscure to know ML existed in the 50s and 60s.

> That's just called "writing software" not "teaching the network."

I would have expected better from Scientific American. The transcript read as very repetitive.

It's interesting reading how TTL evolved from the 'handover' field (p14-16).

Also if you read Wikipedia it looks like the main contribution was a simulator.