EE380 – Stanford EE Computer Systems Colloquium – Spring Quarter 2022

April 6. 2022  4PM-6PM  160-B40 Wallenburg Stanford

The Whole Earth Catalog and the Roots of Silicon Valley

John Markoff

The early history of Silicon Valley and the simultaneous creation of the Whole Earth Catalog, exploring how they coevolved and transformed culture and the economy in both the United States and the world.

John Markoff wrote about technology and science for the The New York Times beginning in March 1988 as the paper’s national computer writer. He retired from the paper in 2017 to write a biography of Stewart Brand, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin 2022).  He began covering Silicon Valley beginning in 1977 and has reported for Infoworld, Byte Magazine, and the San Francisco Examiner.  In 2013 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting as part of a New York Times project on labor and automation.

He has written six books including What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture shaped the Personal Computer Industry, published by Viking Books (2005) and Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots, published by HarperCollins Ecco (2016)

John was “in conversation” with Paul Saffo at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.  The Commonwealth Club talk can be seen HERE.   John’s book, Whole Earth, The Many Lives of Stewart Brand, is available from your local (online or brick) bookstore.