Edmund Berkeley and the Social Responsibility of Computer Professionals
eBook - ePub

Edmund Berkeley and the Social Responsibility of Computer Professionals

  1. 222 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Edmund Berkeley and the Social Responsibility of Computer Professionals

About this book

Edmund C. Berkeley (1909 – 1988) was a mathematician, insurance actuary, inventor, publisher, and a founder of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). His book Giant Brains or Machines That Think (1949) was the first explanation of computers for a general readership. His journal Computers and Automation (1951-1973) was the first journal for computer professionals. In the 1950s, Berkeley developed mail-order kits for small, personal computers such as Simple Simon and the Braniac. In an era when computer development was on a scale barely affordable by universities or government agencies, Berkeley took a different approach and sold simple computer kits to average Americans. He believed that digital computers, using mechanized reasoning based on symbolic logic, could help people make more rational decisions. The result of this improved reasoning would be better social conditions and fewer large-scale wars. Although Berkeley's populist notions of computer development in the public interest did not prevail, the events of his life exemplify the human side of ongoing debates concerning the social responsibility of computer professionals. This biography of Edmund Berkeley, based on primary sources gathered over 15 years of archival research, provides a lens to understand social and political decisions surrounding early computer development, and the consequences of these decisions in our 21st century lives.

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Yes, you can access Edmund Berkeley and the Social Responsibility of Computer Professionals by Bernadette Longo in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Technology & Engineering & Computer Science General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. Preface
  7. Introduction: A Struggle of Ideas
  8. Chapter 1 Modern Methods of Thinking, 1927–1941
  9. Chapter 2 Navy Assignment at the Harvard Computation Lab, 1944–1946
  10. Chapter 3 Establishing Open Communication Channels for Technology Development, 1945–1948
  11. Chapter 4 Robots and Giant Brains, 1942–1961
  12. Chapter 5 National Security Investigations, 1948–1955
  13. Chapter 6 Engineering Peace, 1948–1970
  14. Chapter 7 A Denunciation of Killing Devices, 1952–1972
  15. Chapter 8 The Remaking of Man, 1973–1987
  16. Bibliography
  17. Author’s Biography