Word: batteau
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...carrying things a little too far. But there is here at Harvard a group of scientists who do hold to Campbell's basic views. They are all somewhat loosely bound together in the "Speculative Society," a fictitious title for a non-existent organization facetiously applied by Dwight Wayne Batteau '48, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, to its informal meetings. A closer look at this "Society" may show more clearly what Campbell means when he talks about creative thinking. It also may illustrate the value of his particular variety of science fiction...
...story begins back in 1948 when Batteau and Warren Seaman, now Assistant Director of the Harvard Computation Lab, used to spend their spare time poring over reams of science fiction. The two, along with a few other avid fans, would speculate on the feasibility of such fanciful things as computing machines, automatic "brains," space rockets, and other amusing "toys." Campbell often joined in the "bull sessions," as Batteau calls them...
...session, for example, came Batteau's idea for a "logic toy," a gadget that would respond to the rules of formal logic and produce a correct answer to any logical problem fed it. Batteau, who had taken logic courses with Professor Quine and others, felt that all the rules could be set up in electronic circuits. He proceeded to construct the machine, "just for fun," and today a small box in Batteau's office can answer simple logical propositions fed into...
Dwight W. Batteau was appointed assistant professors of Mechanical Engineering; Andrew R. Long, assistant professor of Metallurgy; and Robert C. Minnick, assistant professor of Applied Mathematics...