Stephen L. Talbott: Brief Biography

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After being named a Presidential Scholar by Lyndon Johnson (1964), graduating from college, and serving in the army as a draftee (1968-1970), I edited a popular-scientific journal, Pensée, whose aim was to re-examine the catastrophism of Immanual Velikovsky (1972-1975). This work culminated in an international symposium on Velikovsky's work at McMaster University (co-organized by Pensée and the University) and a 1975 symposium at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (organized by Carl Sagan, among others), entitled “Velikovsky's Challenge to Science”. This latter was an acknowledged response to the attention Pensée was receiving. (Those curious about the Velikovskian past should consult Velikovsky.info, while subsequent chapters of the story are available at thunderbolts.info and holoscience.com, among other websites.)

There followed a period during which I managed an experimental organic farm in the Portland, Oregon area (1975-1981).

In 1981 I began employment in the high-tech industry, working first in the software engineering organization of Tektronix, then Masscomp, then Concurrent Computer corporation. I worked both as a programmer and as a technical writer, and from the very first pursued a core personal interest in cognitive science — particularly the badly conceived effort to understand the human mind on the model of a computer.

In 1990 I became a senior editor at O'Reilly & Associates (now O'Reilly Media), a leading publisher of computer-related books. This continued until 1995, when O'Reilly published my own book, The Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machines in Our Midst. The library journal, Choice, selected this as one of six "Outstanding Academic Books" for 1996 in the field of Information and Computer Science. Unix Review named it one of the "Best Books of 1995".

Shortly after this I began phasing out my work at O'Reilly, and started publishing an online newsletter, NetFuture: Technology and Human Responsibility. In a feature article on my work in the New York Times (Nov. 25, 1999), computer scientist Peter Denning termed this newsletter "a largely undiscovered national treasure". Since 1999 I have worked as a senior researcher at The Nature Institute, where I continue to publish NetFuture.

Throughout my life I have pursued a disciplined path of self-education outside the main educational establishment. On this path I have taught myself such disparate subjects as computer programming, Homeric Greek, and projective geometry. Such an approach to learning will, I believe, become more and more important in the future, as a counterbalance to the intellectual commitments and inertia of the primary learning institutions.

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Last revision: July 13, 2012

Steve Talbott :: A Brief Biography

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