The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age

A Google TechTalk, presented by Thomas S Mullaney, 2024-05-29 ABSTRACT: In 1989, a Chinese engineer made an audacious prediction: within his lifetime, Chinese would surpass English as the fastest computational language in the world, where "with leisurely keystrokes, users will be able to reach or greatly outpace the speed of human speech." Outlandish as this prognostication was, it has largely come true, with the fastest Chinese inputters reaching mind-boggling speeds of 221.9 characters per minute—or 3.7 Chinese characters every second. How is this possible? How did a script so long disparaged as cumbersome and helplessly complex suddenly rival—exceed, even—computational typing speeds clocked in other parts of the world? Previewing his new book, The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age (forthcoming in May 2024), Prof. Thomas Mullaney charts out the history of computing in China, a terrain that remains unmapped despite China’s present-day status as a global IT powerhouse. ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Thomas S. Mullaney is Professor of History and Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University. He is also the Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He is the author or lead editor of 7 books, including The Chinese Typewriter (winner of the Fairbank prize), Your Computer is on Fire, Coming to Terms with the Nation: Ethnic Classification in Modern China, and the forthcoming The Chinese Computer—the first comprehensive history of Chinese-language computing. His writings have appeared in the Journal of Asian Studies, Technology & Culture, Aeon, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, and his work has been featured in the LA Times, The Atlantic, the BBC, and in invited lectures at Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and more. He holds a PhD from Columbia University. Host: Shumin Zhai.