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Douglas Blank's picture

The first time I saw Paul...

The first time I saw Paul was 10 years and 3 months ago. I was giving my job talk at Bryn Mawr, and some ways into it, I saw a disheveled man pacing outside the classroom. He eventually came into the room and sat near the back. I thought he was a homeless man from the local community. At the end of the talk, he asked a question: "Do you really think this is the way to create artificial intelligence?" This was not a homeless man, but someone that cut right to the issue. "No, this is the way that we currently have to do it. I think we need something more... emergent," I replied. That was Paul, and he become one of my best friends at BMC.

Emergence became a theme of all of ours: many of us met every week, nearly continuously, for 5 years to discuss "it". This wouldn't have happened---couldn't have happened---without Paul. He certainly did listen...to everyone! What patience!

I learned much from Paul on all aspects of life during the last 10 years. I hope we can all continue our serendipitous adventure as exemplified by Paul.

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