In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat reviewing talk proposals for PDP-6-Con.

"What are you doing?" asked Minsky.

"I am training a randomly wired neural net to review talk submissions," Sussman replied.

"Why is the net wired randomly?" asked Minsky.

"I do not want it to have any preconceptions of who should present," Sussman said.

Minsky then shut his eyes.

"Why do you close your eyes?" Sussman asked his teacher.

"So that the room will be empty."

At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.