Alexander: How to Order a Pizza with Your Computer, in 1974! (Video)

Pizza as a gastronomic concept has existed since ancient Greece, but modern pizza dates from 1889, when Raffele Esposito created the Margherita to honor the queen of the same name visiting Naples. On the other hand, computers date from 1940, when they occupied an entire room. With both origins identified, the epic crossover occurred in 1974, when someone showed us on video how to order a pizza with your computer.

The First Pizza Ordered by a Computer

The feat, which some humans with a quasi-pathological tendency to tempt us with a flat piece of baked bread topped with tomato sauce and cheese call an achievement, took place in the early days of the internet, back in 1974, when computers were gaining such fame and recognition that they were already appearing on the evening news.

Alexander, as the scientists in charge named it, became the first computer through which someone ordered a pizza. As the founder of the earliest signs of voice communication via software and a notable fusion of gastronomy and computing, we present the video document that records such a feat.

The hero of that historic feat of December 4, 1974 was Donald Sherman, who suffered from the neurological disorder known as Moebius syndrome, which among other disabilities causes the loss of the ability to speak, resulting in serious communication difficulties. The computer consisted of a typewriter serving as a prehistoric keyboard and a television screen. Completing the package was a speaker connected to the telephone handset and software to translate typed words into speech, using a voice synthesizer of the era. Donald typed the sentences and slowly the speech engine analyzed and voiced them, with a diction quality surprising for the time.

Located in Michigan, the scientists decided to honor their community by ordering a pizza through the computer, which paradoxically was not yet used for ordering food. With Donald Sherman at the keyboard, they dialed the famous Domino's Pizza and attempted to order a pizza. Not once, but three times they hung up, thinking it was a prank, because in 1974 you didn't hear a robot asking for a large pepperoni and mushroom pizza every day.

Only on the fourth call, after changing the introduction of their order so the listener would know they faced a strange event carried out by a person with a physical communication difficulty, someone took their order very kindly, patiently waiting for each response from Donald Sherman. A glorious moment, as both the developers of Alexander, Donald Sherman, and Mr. Mike from Domino's - who after confirming the order would send the pizza to the MSU Computer Center - were making history. Finally, it is amusing how the reporter closes her report by saying, “it won't be long before we all can use computers to communicate.”.