When:
Monday, January 13, 2025
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM CT
Where: University Hall, Hagstrum 201, 1897 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Cost: FREE
Contact:
Janet Hundrieser
(847) 491-3525
Group: Science in Human Culture Program - Klopsteg Lecture Series
Category: Lectures & Meetings
Speaker
Benjamin Lindquist - History, Northwestern University
Title
"The Irrational Computer"
Abstract
In the middle of the twentieth century, some engineers came to the paradoxical conclusion that before computers could become more “human,” they first had to become less “rational.” In particular, the birth of machine learning hinged on the notion that an unpredictable element was necessary for computers to beat a Turing test or simulate creativity. My study reveals how a perceived link between creativity and chance led to the creation of the first “random” neural networks in the 1950s. This association between randomness and creativity hailed from the art world, where original thought had long been linked to chance operations, divergent thinking, and even mental illness. At the time, rationalist critics attacked random neural nets as careless and chaotic. Historians of computing have followed suit by overemphasizing the tradition of Boolean algebra and deductive logic. In contrast, my work uncovers a faint but perceptible trace of disorder that was central to the rise of machine learning. Rather than viewing the notorious hallucinations of large language models as a recent phenomenon and a deviation from computing’s historical norms, I map the contested meanings of chance to highlight the ongoing political stakes involved in the use and governance of stochastic systems.
Biography
Before earning a Ph.D. from Princeton University, Benjamin Lindquist trained as a painter at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA) and Yale University School of Art (MFA). This background has shaped his current interest in the history of computing. Specifically, his work asks how tools and concepts drawn from the world of art influenced early computer simulations of human creativity, intelligence, and emotion.