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PARTISAN REVIEW
Edward Rothstein, whose background in music and mathematics,
and whose incisive knowledge of cultural issues and phenomena is sec–
ond to none, will comment on and question some of Ray's predictions .
This afternoon we will hear from two persons whose exceptional
work could not be pursued without the most sophisticated computers.
Of course many of you in the audience have experiences in your own
fields, and I hope we will hear about these during the discussions at the
end of both the morning and afternoon sessions.
Gunther Stent, a member of the faculty of the University of Califor–
nia at Berkeley since
1952,
and the author of a number of textbooks on
molecular biology, frequently writes and reviews books on science for
Partisan Review.
He will address questions of consciousness from a
neurobiological perspective. Answers to these questions relate to other
sciences and depend particularly on the computerization of knowledge.
Guy Burgess, a sociologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder,
will tell us how he uses the Internet to strengthen scholarly networks
that aim to resolve conflicts by means of new computer and telecom–
munication technologies. I am especially interested in how his and his
wife Heidi's research might be influenced by Ray Kurzweil's anticipa–
tions of the impact of "spiritual machines" on moral values.
Richard Grimm, a member of our Advisory Board, is going to moder–
ate the afternoon session. But now I want to present Jacob Weisberg, the
moderator of this morning's discussion. He will introduce both Edward
Rothstein and Ray Kurzweil.
Jacob Weisberg is thirty-five years old and has written about politics
and culture for more than a decade. A native of Chicago, he attended
Yale University and New College, Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship.
From
1989
to
1994,
he worked in various editorial capacities at the
New Republic.
Between
1994
and
1996,
he wrote a national interest
column for
New York Magazine.
In the fall of
1996
he joined
Slate,
the
Internet magazine published by Microsoft, as its chief political corre–
spondent. He is currently covering the
2000
Presidential campaign.
Weisberg is also a contributing writer for
New York Magazine.
Previ–
ously he wrote for
Vanity Fair
and
Newsweek
in London and Washing–
ton, and freelanced for other publications including the
New Yorker,
Partisan Review, Esquire, Gentleman's Quarterly,
the
Washington
Monthly,
the
Washington Post,
the
Saturday Times of London,
and the
Observer.
In
1996
his book
In Defense of Government
was published
by Scribner. Weisberg was also the co-editor with Andrew Sullivan of
the
1992
paperback,
Bushisms.
Last, but not least, he comes around in
order to read to William Phillips. Jacob.
