McCarthy wasn’t just interested in making Lisp for AI, he was thinking about the possible applications AI, with Lisp as a platform to get to more advanced states of understanding. An example of this is in his paper “Computer Control of a Machine for Exploring Mars." Stanford Artificial Intelligence Project, Memo N. 14, June 15, 1964, Author: McCarthy, John, 1927-2011; Stanford University Library collections.

https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:qh147kq8662/SC1041_SA...