If Then: Jill Lepore with Martine Powers

The New Yorker staff writer and author of These Truths divines the origins of our data-driven madness. 

Decades before Facebook, Google, or Cambridge Analytica, there was the Simulmatics Corporation. Founded in 1959 by some of the nation's leading social scientists, Simulmatics proposed to predict and manipulate the future by creating computer simulations of human behavior. Their "People Machine" aimed to model everything from buying a dishwasher to counterinsurgency to casting a vote, and it was deployed in situations ranging from presidential elections to the Vietnam War. Exposed for false claims, and even accused of war crimes, it closed its doors in 1970 and all but vanished. Until Lepore came across the records of its remains.

The scientists of Simulmatics believed they had invented "the A-bomb of the social sciences." That bomb finally detonated in the early years of the 21st century, creating a world in which corporations collect data and model behavior and target messages about the most ordinary of decisions. Jill Lepore joins LIVE from NYPL to discuss with Martine Powers her cautionary tale about our present moment.

LIVE from NYPL is made possible by the support of Library patrons and friends, as well as by the continuing generosity of Celeste Bartos, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos, and the Margaret and Herman Sokol Public Education Endowment Fund.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of History at Harvard University and is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, her many books include the international bestseller These Truths and This America.

Martine Powers is the host of "Post Reports," the flagship daily news podcast at The Washington Post. She has worked at The Post since 2016, where she began her career as a reporter on the Metro desk. Before The Post, Powers worked at The Boston Globe and Politico. Powers is also an audio producer and graduate of the Transom Story Workshop for audio journalism.


GET THE BOOK
If you have a NYPL library card—or live in New York state and want to apply for one now—you can borrow If Then for free with our e-reader app SimplyE, available for iOS and Android devices.

Readers everywhere who wish to purchase copies of If Then can do so at The New York Public Library Shop. All proceeds benefit The New York Public Library. Plus, receive a free 125th Anniversary tote bag with your purchase!

This program will be streamed on Zoom and simulcast to YouTube. You must register with your email address in order to receive the link to participate. Please check your email shortly before the discussion to receive the link. Captions for this event will be provided. 

Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc.) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Sara Beth Joren at sarabethjoren@nypl.org.

For all other questions and inquiries, please contact publicprograms@nypl.org.

PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
This Program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave NYPL’s website and enter a website not operated by NYPL. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of every third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact with through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of NYPL's Privacy Policy describing "Third-Party Library Services Providers" at https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/legal-notices/privacy-policy.

During this Program, you will be using third-party platforms such as Zoom and YouTube, for the purpose of communication. This service may collect some personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, & password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy, which can be found here: Google Privacy Policy, Zoom Privacy Policy, YouTube Privacy Policy.