IBM

 By Bruce Shawkey


INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES 

The world of the computer and the methods both man and machine use to solve problems are on display in a startling white egg-shaped theater, 90 feet high and covered with the letters IBM, repeated nearly 1,000 times. The structure towers above 45 rust-colored metal trees; located in this artificial grove are exhibit courts, a maze of walkways suspended above a reflecting pool, and a pentagon of little theaters where mechanical puppets perform. The exhibit was one of the last projects on which the late architect Eero Saarinen worked. The wonders inside the ovoid building were wrought by the noted designer Charles Eames. * Admission: free. 

HIGHLIGHTS

SONGS FROM THE TREES. Perched on ramps in the metal trees, musicians entertain the crowds on the elevated walkways. 

THE PEOPLE WALL. A steep grandstand entered from ramp level below the theater is one of the features of the exhibit. After the audience of some 500 is seated, the "People Wall" is drawn swiftly and smoothly up into the theater, while a narrator appears, suspended before the audience on a small circular platform. 

THE INFORMATION MACHINE. Inside the theater, a 12-minute show full of visible and audible surprises (special lighting effects, stereophonic sound, 14 slide and movie projectors throwing images on screens and surfaces of various shapes and size describes the similarity of methods that are used by the human mind and computers to solve problems. Headsets provide simultaneous translation of the English narration into five languages: French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. 

THEATER PENTAGON. On the little stages under the trees, mechanical figures act out playlets four minutes long about such topics as speed, computer logic and information handling systems; in one play, Sherlock Holmes uses computer logic to solve The Case of the Elusive Train. 

THE PROBABILITY MACHINE. In a demonstration of the law of averages, held every 17 minutes, thousands of small plastic balls are dropped one by one through a maze of more than 450 pins. Below the pins are 21 pockets. At the end of every experiment, each pocket contains approximately the same number of balls it held the last time. 

COMPUTERS AT WORK. Two of the most recent applications of computers are demonstrated: For translation, an exhibit shows how technical data that are written in Russian can be quickly and accurately worded in English. For character recognition, a computer system is displayed that is programmed to recognize handwritten numerals (including scribbles) and associate facts with them. The machine accepts a card with any date since September 18, 1851, written on it and promptly returns another card containing a historically significant news story in capsule form, taken from The New York Times of that date. 

SCHOLAR'S WALK. This is a quiet area where the lore of computers and scientific information about them are displayed on reading stands.

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It's hard to grasp just how much computers have become part of everyday life. Apple, of course, hadn't been invented yet. IBM-clone computers are everywhere and can be purchased for as little as $400 that have more power than the computer NASA used to send a man to the moon.

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