594     February 15, 1965 
Betsy, Bill, Bess, Henry

Raymond Kurzweil from Queens, New York plays a little piano piece: “I designed and built an electronic computer…The computer wrote the music I just played” 
17-year-old Raymond is a Finalist in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search (see E592 ).  As an adult, Ray Kurzweil would become an award-winning author, inventor, and futurist of the computer age.  In a long and varied career, he is probably best known for his writings about artificial intelligence and the approach of “the singularity,” the point at which rapid technological growth results in AI that surpasses human intelligence. His books on the subject include The Age of Spiritual Machines (Viking 1999) and The Singularity is Near (Viking 2005).  Here, young Raymond demonstrates his electronic machine and how he programmed it to compose music.   

Mrs. Chester Loney from Rough and Ready, California: “I was President Johnson’s teacher in the first grade”                 
Katherine Loney (Miss Kate Dedtrich at the time) has kept in touch with her young student over the years, and was invited to his 1965 inaugural.  She would appear with the President in April when he signed a school aid bill at his childhood school in Texas.  At the end of this show, we learn President Johnson has been watching the show at the White House, and sends his regards.  (See E549 )                   

For Bill’s birthday (he turns 45 on February 18), the other panelists join Steve in surprising him.  They present him with a set of home exercise equipment, but he must win it in a Price Is Right bidding contest against three other contestants (Thomas Moffatt, Francis Mahon and Henry Miller) who share his birthday.  Mr. Miller ends up victorious.  The Price Is Right is in its final season after almost nine years on the air.  Its final episode would air on September 3.