New Books in the History of Science

From Hal to Siri: How Computers Learned to Speak

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Today we learn how computers learned to talk with Benjamin Lindquist, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University’s Science in Human Culture program. Ben is the author “The Art of Text to Speech,” which recently appeared in Critical Inquiry, and he’s currently writing a history of text-to-speech computing. 

In this conversation, we explore: 

  • the fascinating backstory to HAL 9000, the speaking computer in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey 
  • 2001’s strong influence on computer science and the cultural reception of computers
  • the weird technology of the first talking computers and their relationship to optical film soundtracks
  • Louis Gerstman, the forgotten innovator who first made an IBM mainframe sing “Daisy Bell.”
  • why the phonemic approach of Stephen Hawking’s voice didn’t make it into the voice of Siri
  • the analog history of digital computing and the true differences between analog and digital 

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