William Crossman

Interview

• "A computer for anyone who can talk" (Chicago, 20/07/1998)

Biography

Born in New Haven (Connecticut, U.S.A.) in 1939, William Crossman (willcross@aol.com) is a philosopher, professor and speaker. After graduating in philosophy from Cornell University, he obtained a Masters from Harvard University, and then continued his philosophical and linguistic studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Until 1997 he taught at Morris Brown College, a black college in Atlanta, and currently teaches at Vista Community College in Berkeley, California. Crossman is interested in learning, information technology, language and culture and human rights. He is the founder and director of CompSpeak 2050 Institute for the Study of Talking Computers and Oral Cultures (www.compspeak2050.org). His controversial book CompSpeak 2050: How Talking Computers Will Recreate an Oral Culture by Mid-21st Century, draws on about 30 years of teaching experience. The authors theory - that talking computers will replace written language by 2050 and transform every area of human activity - has aroused great interest and has provoked a great deal of debate in both academic and non-academic circles. The book has been talked about in conferences, research and technological development centres, in university seminars, and radio and television programmes. As well as being very involved in organising anti-racist and human rights movements, William Crossman writes poetry and is a jazz pianist.