At this time it is difficult to put one's finger on any single contribution in the decade 1950 - 1960 which is comparable to those above, and yet progress has probably been even greater. From the point of view of an educator, one cannot overlook the wide distribution which has been given to these ideas. There has been remarkable progress from analysis to synthesis, always a sign of maturity in a field of analytic endeavour. There has been consolidation, for example in the establishment of a more rigorous basis for information theory; there has been unification, for example in the demonstration of the formal similarity between game theory and; there has been application to mathematically more difficult situations, for example nonlinear servo systems and information channels with memory; there has been implementation, as in commercially available computers which by any reasonable measure are hun- dreds of times more powerful than the primitive devices of 1950; there has been de-limitation of the boundaries of many of these fields.
- Robert E. Machol
We have discovered in this past decade that thinking, and decision, are not solely the province of the metaphysicist, but are appropriate subjects for scientific inquiry.
- Robert E. Machol
on the basis of the types of inputs with which they must cope.
- Robert E. Machol
on the basis of the types of inputs with which they must cope.
- Robert E. Machol
The fellow who is able to get the grants and contracts is the fellow who gets the doctoral students. Each student publishes two or three papers on his thesis, in each of which he cites his professor's work. Then he goes on and does his own subsequent work, in which, of course, he cites those thesis papers which were coauthorised by his professor.
- Robert E. Machol
Scientists possess healthy skepticism. They realize that you've got to know the answer before you measure it.
- Robert E. Machol
If the assumptions are wrong, the conclusions aren't likely to be very good.
- Robert E. Machol
If the assumptions are wrong, the conclusions aren't likely to be very good.
- Robert E. Machol
The purpose and real value of systems engineering is... to keep going around the loop; find inadequacies and make improvements.
- Robert E. Machol
The purpose and real value of systems engineering is... to keep going around the loop; find inadequacies and make improvements.
- Robert E. Machol