CMU research professor made the world say :-)

Each day there are technological discoveries. Science’s pioneers voyage into uncharted… Each day there are technological discoveries. Science’s pioneers voyage into uncharted territories, often trying many times before a creation is fully realized and infiltrated in society.

After only a decade or two, however, most people don’t even question who invented the things they see every day or how their inventions came about.

One Pittsburgh inventor combined three well-known devices to create a revolutionary communications tool that people use every day.

And to think, all it took was a little imagination and a leftward tilt of the head to digitize human emotion, :-).

Carnegie Mellon University researcher Scott Fahlman is the inventor of the emoticon, a popular way to express voice tone in an electronic message, but he also works with Artificial Intelligence and mentors students who work for him.

“I know this is going to be the first line in my obituary, ‘Scott Fahlman, the guy who created the smiley and did some other stuff,'” he said.

The 58-year-old doesn’t teach courses at CMU, but he is indistinguishable from much of CMU’s faculty, with slightly bookish attire and a genial smile encircled by something wildly thicker than a 5 o’clock shadow.

Rudy Nedved, a former colleague of Fahlman’s who worked with him for 18 years, said he most distinctly remembers Fahlman by his beard.

They worked together when Fahlman’s beard was a little less gray and Nedved saw less humor in the world.

“He kind of viewed it as his job to tell people when they were doing something antisocial,” Fahlman said.

It was Nedved’s flaw, however, that led to Fahlman’s communications revolution.

Fahlman said he invented the emoticon in 1982 when CMU was using an opinion bulletin board to electronically exchange ideas. The board led to passionate scientific debates about unlikely things and jokes between colleagues, but Nedved didn’t get it.

“I was the overly uptight facilities guy who missed the joke,” Nedved said.

Bulletin board users decided they needed a way to convey the tone of their posts.

Fahlman’s original response reads, “I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: 🙂 Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use :-(“.

Cinar Sahin, a graduate student who has worked in Fahlman’s research program for more than four years, said Fahlman has been a good advisor and a pleasant person.

“He encourages rather than intimidates,” Sahin said. “He shows the direction, but you’re supposed to take the steps yourself.”

Fahlman’s real passion is his AI research. Since the 1970s, he has worked on making computers think more like humans

Within the last five years, he has worked on the challenge of creating software that compiles information and experience to simulate common sense.

He said he hopes one day his research will lead to a program that can actually create its own text about a subject, as opposed to simply reading and understanding things people have put into the computer, which is easier.

He likened this to illiteracy, citing the fact that many more people can speak English than can read and write it.

“You can’t just put it all on a CD and put it in the computer,” he said. “Really the Holy Grail is text comprehension and text generation.”

Sahin inputs data from sources like the CIA fact book into the software, called SCONE.

Ben Lambert, another of Fahlman’s students, said SCONE has two definitions, depending upon Fahlman’s mood. It either stands for “Scalable Ontology Engine” or “Scott’s Ontology Engine.”

Lambert was attracted to Fahlman’s program after meeting him on a visit to CMU.

“In the visit weekend before I started here, there was a rumor going around — I didn’t know who he was at the time — that he invented [the smiley],” he said.

As a boss, Fahlman is very helpful and always available to talk to, Sahin said. Sahin added that Fahlman is rather opinionated, but not extremely pushy.

“He’ll try to convince you that he’s right, but he’s not going to fight about it,” he said.

Sahin said dealing with Fahlman is comfortable and casual, but he won’t hesitate to confront students if the work they are doing isn’t satisfactory, and Lambert agreed.

He’s not afraid to tell you what he thinks,” Lambert said. “He’s brutally honest. If you’re not up to par, he’ll tell you.”

Both students said Fahlman is willing to work with students to find something they do well and enjoy.

“Rather than challenging you and your skills,” Sahin said, “he tries to find something you want to do.”

Fahlman said his emoticon has been denounced by writers as unnecessary. Writers, including one of Fahlman’s favorites, Neal Stephenson, have noted that authors have conveyed tone for years without needing a sign like :-).

Meredith Guthrie, communications professor at Pitt, said she believes that emoticons do have a place in modern communications.

She added that people criticize them because they aren’t as beautiful as literature or letter writing. She said they are important because most people understand and can use them.

Fahlman conceded that emoticons are not always necessary, and, like anything, they should be used in moderation.

“A smiley is like a rim shot on a joke,” he said.

Fahlman said he and his wife, Penny, have no children, but they have a cat “who thinks he’s human and, apparently, royalty.” Fahlman has worked at CMU since 1978 and has done work for IBM and Justsystem in Japan.

Sahin said he lists Fahlman’s AI research as his most important accomplishment. Lambert said Fahlman’s creation of the LISP computer language for AI is on top.

Both agree the emoticon is also high on his list. Lambert and Sahin both said they use emoticons regularly.

“It kind of tells what kind of person Scott is — he’s kind of intuitive and creative at the same time,” Sahin said.

Sahin said working for the creator of the emoticon was something he was able to brag to his friends about, after he convinced them it was true.

Fahlman admitted he was probably not the first one to use the three characters 🙂 in a row, but he said his creation ended up being the one that mattered.

“Lots of people discovered America until Columbus reported back,” Fahlman said. “There may be Vikings of the smiley face, but I think I’m the Christopher Columbus.”