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From Hal to Siri: How Computers Learned to Speak

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Manage episode 483639213 series 2472510
Content provided by New Books Network and New Books. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by New Books Network and New Books or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

  continue reading

6017 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 483639213 series 2472510
Content provided by New Books Network and New Books. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by New Books Network and New Books or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

  continue reading

6017 episodes

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