Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar George Dyson

Augustana Phi Beta Kappa will host visiting scholar George Dyson, who will speak on the evolution of artificial intelligence.

Dyson is an independent historian of technology, whose subjects have included the development of the Aleut kayak, the evolution of artificial intelligence, a path not taken into space, and the transition from numbers that mean things to numbers that do things in the aftermath of World War II.

His books have been translated into more than half a dozen languages, and he is currently working on a project titled "Analogia" that opens with the campaign against the Chiricahua Apache in the 19th century and closes with the superseding of the digital revolution by something else.

Dyson has lectured widely and contributed to Scientific American, Nature, Forbes, Discover, Wired, Atlantic, Make, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

His early life is described in Kenneth Brower’s "The Starship and the Canoe."

Since 1956, the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program has been offering undergraduates the opportunity to spend time with some of America's most distinguished scholars. 

Augustana's chapter, Zeta of Illinois, was established in 1950.