[SIGCIS-Members] The Communicators

James Fleming james_fleming at sfu.ca
Thu Mar 17 13:23:40 PDT 2022 

For Dreyfus, it should I think be What Computers STILL Can't Do (1992 I think). Ask me, as a lurker/observer, the "fallacy of the first step" remains exceedingly operative. Pretty amazing too that HD first called it in the Nixon era. JDF


James Dougal Fleming<https://libberleeber.com><http://www.sfu.ca/english/faculty-staff/profiles/j-d--fleming.Jameshtml>

Professor, Department of English

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby/Vancouver,

British Columbia,

Canada.


So spake the fervent Angel, but his zeal

None seconded, as out of season judged,

Or singular and rash

-- Paradise Lost



________________________________
From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP at si.edu>
Sent: March 17, 2022 12:27 PM
To: Lori Emerson; Janet Abbate
Cc: members at SIGCIS.org
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] The Communicators

There were lots of people who made predictions about the future (e.g. Ed Berkeley's "Giant Brains"), but your question is about works that computer people acted to bring into being. That is a more restricted set. Not sure of Berkely had that influence on computer engineers and scientists. Alan Kay's description of a "Dynabook"? John Sculley's video about a personal assistant?  (Not clear if the folks at Apple or anywhere else took his video as marching orders or not).

Maybe a negative writing: Dreyfus's "What Computers Can't Do."  As much as it was disparaged, AI researchers did come around to take a different tack on AI, with great success. Whether they were persuaded by Dreyfus's arguments or not I am not sure.

Paul Ceruzzi



________________________________
From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Lori Emerson <lori.emerson at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2022 2:29 PM
To: Janet Abbate <abbate at vt.edu>
Cc: members at SIGCIS.org <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] The Communicators


External Email - Exercise Caution

Hi Evan and all,

I would add George Orwell on the "World Brain" as well as Paul Otlett's Mundaneum - not explicitly computers but definitely imagining a networked, world wide information sharing system.

yrs, Lori

On Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 12:25 PM Janet Abbate <abbate at vt.edu<mailto:abbate at vt.edu>> wrote:
Hi Evan,

David Ferro and Eric Swedin’s anthology, "Science Fiction and Computing: Essays on Interlinked Domains" (McFarland & Company, 2011) is a series of essays about science fiction that affected real-life computing. I don’t recall how much coverage there was of pre-1965 SF.

I used to teach Asimov’s short story “The Last Question” (1956), which is one of his most widely read, but I don’t know if it influenced actual computing.

Janet

Dr. Janet Abbate
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Virginia Tech
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> On Mar 17, 2022, at 11:23 AM, Evan Koblentz <evank at njit.edu<mailto:evank at njit.edu>> wrote:
>
> Good suggestion! Science fiction often tells us about the present, sometimes more than the future.
>
> ----
> Evan Koblentz
>
> Staff Writer, Office of Strategic Communications
> Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing
>
> evank at njit.edu<mailto:evank at njit.edu>
> (973) 596-3065
> Https://web.njit.edu/~evank<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.njit.edu%2F~evank&data=04%7C01%7Cceruzzip%40si.edu%7C7a909c28ad8f40a6279a08da0844229f%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C0%7C0%7C637831386134020572%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=wE%2BIuWAy7DsjUYTPBmrtkCCDrFdobg4Df8gmyPV8fmA%3D&reserved=0>
> @TechnicallyEvan
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Adam Hyland <achyland at uw.edu<mailto:achyland at uw.edu>>
> Date: 3/17/22 11:15 AM (GMT-05:00)
> To: Jean Graham <jean.graham at stonybrook.edu<mailto:jean.graham at stonybrook.edu>>
> Cc: Evan Koblentz <evank at njit.edu<mailto:evank at njit.edu>>, "members at SIGCIS.org" <members at sigcis.org<mailto:members at sigcis.org>>
> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] The Communicators
>
> I wouldn't know how to begin writing about this, but Asimov comes immediately to mind for pre 1965.
>
> On Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 8:04 AM Jean Graham <jean.graham at stonybrook.edu<mailto:jean.graham at stonybrook.edu>> wrote:
> Definitely the people who wrote hacker zines and bulletin boards, not least because they combined a political point of view with their technical writing
>
> On Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 10:58 AM Evan Koblentz <evank at njit.edu<mailto:evank at njit.edu>> wrote:
> I’m interested in a new-to-me research angle: the people who changed computing by writing about it.
>
>
>
> Lovelace comes to mind. So do Vannevar Bush and Edmund Berkeley.
>
>
>
>       • Who else should I consider from prior to 1965? (I have the microcomputer generation covered.)
>       • Are there existing papers on this subject?
>
>
>
>
> Evan A Koblentz
> Staff Writer, Office of Strategic Communications
> Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing
> evan.a.koblentz at njit.edu<mailto:evan.a.koblentz at njit.edu> • (973) 596-3065
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>
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