In a way, yes. One popular belief was that you basically take world modelling and association tables and pile them onto a complicated logic system, until it mag

In a way, yes. One popular belief was that you basically take world modelling and association tables and pile them onto a complicated logic system, until it magically understands everything and therefore becomes intelligent. This was a notion among actual researchers (especially in the 1950s/60s). If you've just made the most complicated computer system (see e.g. the General Problem Solver), it's easy to believe that you just need to pile on some more complexity until you have a thinking thing.