Curated playlist
American philosophers of technology
- Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut survived the bombing of Dresden by hiding in an underground meat locker.
- Philip K. DickPhilip K. Dick died four months before Blade Runner opened. He never saw the film that made his name famous.
- Noam ChomskyNoam Chomsky wrote his first article at age 10, about the fall of Barcelona.
- B. F. SkinnerB. F. Skinner proposed steering missiles with pigeons. The birds pecked at a screen showing the target.
- Hilary PutnamHilary Putnam invented a leading theory of the mind, then spent years taking it apart.
- Hubert DreyfusIn 1964, the RAND Corporation hired philosopher Hubert Dreyfus to review artificial intelligence.
- Ray KurzweilRay Kurzweil's team built a machine that read printed pages aloud for blind people. It was unveiled in January 1976.
- Edward FredkinEdward Fredkin never finished college, yet MIT made him a full professor in 1968. Marvin Minsky recruited him.
- Erich FrommErich Fromm argued that falling in love is not love at all. His 1956 book The Art of Loving became a bestseller.
- Henry JenkinsMedia scholar Henry Jenkins began with the Marx Brothers, not the internet. His dissertation studied vaudeville comedy.
- Brian ChristianBrian Christian entered a 2009 chatbot contest to act more human than the humans. He succeeded.
- Lewis MumfordLewis Mumford argued the clock, not the steam engine, drove the Industrial Revolution. He never finished college.