New Books in Science, Technology, and Society From Hal to Siri: How Computers Learned to Speak
May 19, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Benjamin Lindquist, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University and author of "The Art of Text to Speech," shares insights on the evolution of computer speech. He dives into the intriguing backstory of HAL 9000 and its cultural impact on technology. Lindquist reveals the fascinating journey of early talking computers, including the forgotten innovator Louis Gerstman. The conversation also touches on the phonemic challenges faced by systems like Siri and explores the critical differences between analog and digital speech technologies.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Kubrick's Bell Labs Inspiration
- Stanley Kubrick included the singing computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey after visiting Bell Labs and experiencing their text-to-speech project.
- The recording of "Daisy Bell" demonstrated to Kubrick the machine's artistic expression, inspiring HAL's voice in the film.
Analog Computing's Vital Role
- Analog computing models systems through continuous and analogous representations, unlike digital's discrete data chunks.
- This analog foundation is significant in computing's history but often overlooked in favor of digital focus.
Artist Creating Speech Patterns
- At Haskins Labs, Pierre Delatra improvised by painting novel speech spectrogram patterns that could be converted into realistic speech.
- His skill showed speech production rules could be fully learned even without explicit full understanding.
