11/10/2026
06:00 PM - 07:30 PM | Weizenbaum-Institut, Hardenbergstraße 32, 10623 Berlin
W. Patrick McCray: Power, Corruption, and Lies – Joe Weizenbaum and the Myth of ‘Thinking Machines’
Lecture as part of the anniversary “60 years of ELIZA, 50 years of computer criticism”
The publication in 1976 of Joseph Weizenbaum’s book Computer Power and Human Reason marked a high-water mark in early critiques of artificial intelligence and the computer scientists promoting it. At the same time, his book appeared in the midst of considerable pessimism about the supposed inescapable power of large technological systems. In his talk, historian W. Patrick Mc McCray will explore the background of these critiques as well as the history of Weizenbaum’s influential book—which has its 50th anniversary this year. Along the way, McCray will consider Weizenbaum’s influence on expert and public debates about what computers—and computer scientists—should and shouldn’t do, critiques which are even more salient today.
The event is organized by Christian Strippel, research group lead at the Weizenbaum Institut.
The registration link follows shortly.
About W. Patrick McCray
W. Patrick McCray is a professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His latest book, README: A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines (MIT Press), argues that in order for computers to become ubiquitous, people first had to become interested in them and learn about them through one of the oldest information technologies: books. McCray is an elected Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Physical Society (APS). From 2025 to 2026, he was the Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress.