Plate II. The Frozen Laboratory, 1973–1980
The First Winter
Promises meet the combinatorial explosion, and the money freezes.
In 1973 the Lighthill Report told the British government that AI had failed to deliver on its grand claims, citing the “combinatorial explosion”. Funding in the UK and US contracted sharply.
Work did not stop; it got quiet. The bare branches of the symbolic tree waited for a thaw that came from an unexpected direction: business.