Thank you, Barbara! I'm looking forward to your work on "Creation Myths" It's not new, but Leila McNeill's piece is another great short read on this topic: https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/surely-youre-a-creep-mr-feynman-mcneill. On Thu, Oct 22, 2020 at 11:42 AM Barbara B Walker <bbwalker@unr.edu> wrote:
Hi, everybody,
Hope everyone is safe and well.
Here is an article on the importance of looking beyond the mythologies and cults of genius in the history of science and tech.
https://undark.org/2020/10/22/the-fiction-of-individual-genius/
However, I would argue that in computer history as everywhere else in the history of science and tech, debunking is not enough – we must understand the reasons, cultures and process of cult-formation and myth-making that plays such an influential role in our understanding of the past. That’s something I’m exploring in an article on John von Neumann that I recently submitted for publication review (“Creation Myths”). Am also looking at the formation of political personality cults in a seminar I am teaching this semester.
Barbara Walker
Barbara Walker
Associate Professor
Department of History/308
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno NV 89557
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