Jill Lepore on Data and Control
About the Event:
In her new book If Then, the award-winning historian Jill Lepore turns her attention to the Cold War era Simulmatics Corporation. Lepore argues the Simulmatics “People Machine”—an early computer designed to anticipate and simulate human behavior—paved the way for the data-mining and manipulation that permeates modern-day consumerism, elections, and warfare. Join Lepore, bestselling author of These Truths, and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Michael P. Lynch (Know-It-All Society) for a discussion on how Simulmatics helped “invent the data-mad and near-totalitarian twenty-first century."
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- All events will include live captioning.
This annual lecture recognizes the significant contributions to the Chicago Humanities Festival made by its founder and chairman emeritus Richard J. Franke.
This week’s programs presented with the support of WTTW.
About the Book:
- The Chicago Humanities Festival is pleased to partner with the Seminary Co-op Bookstores, independent since 1961.
- When you purchase your copy of If Then from Seminary Co-op you are directly supporting independent bookselling in Chicago and a vital space for book browsing, discovery, and community.
This week’s programs presented with the support of:
Event Details
Jill Lepore on Data and Control
This week’s programs presented with the support of:
[Event tile description: This event tile image at the top left of the event web page is a photograph of computer code, written in turquoise, fuchsia, red, and white text and symbols in front of a black screen background. The code on the left and right sides of the image appears in blurred focus. The code in the middle of the image is in focus, with legible words including, but not limited to: delete, return, data, false, shift, function, deferred, button, object, and argument. Image credit: Unsplash.]