HAL, Tell Me a Story. Re "Learning Curve: No Longer Just a Human Trait" (front page, Nov. 24): Decades ago, the anthropologist Gregory Bateson told the story of a computer programmer who typed this question into a mainframe computer: "When will a computer be able to think like a person?" After many minutes. the printer started typing, and the programmer tore off the green-lined paper to read, "That reminds me of a story ..." Now how long will it take for a computer to tell me a joke?