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For a while, the idea carried the day. Researchers across the country built on it, tested it, pushed it further. The Perceptron wasn't just a press story. It was real work, with real people staking years of their careers on it.
But progress slowed. The early wins on simple shapes didn't grow into bigger ones as fast as everyone hoped. The excitement that came so easily in 1958 was harder to sustain when the breakthroughs stopped arriving on schedule.
Twelve years passed. By the late 1960s, the thrill had cooled. The field was waiting for something, a reason to believe again, or a reason to give up.