The Origins of Cyberspace collection described as lots 1-255 will first be offered as a single lot, subject to a reserve price. If this price is not reached, the collection will be immediately offered as individual lots as described in the catalogue as lots 1-255.
BERKELEY, Edmund C (1909-1988). [Giant brains or machines that think.] "Agreement made this fifteenth day of October nineteen hundred and forty-six by and between Edmund C. Berkeley of New York state of New York and John Wiley & Sons, of the city, county, and state of New York..." New York, October 15, 1946. 2ff.

Details
BERKELEY, Edmund C (1909-1988). [Giant brains or machines that think.] "Agreement made this fifteenth day of October nineteen hundred and forty-six by and between Edmund C. Berkeley of New York state of New York and John Wiley & Sons, of the city, county, and state of New York..." New York, October 15, 1946. 2ff.

The contract executed between Berkeley and John Wiley and Sons for his Giant Brains or Machines That Think (1949), the first popular book on electronic computers. The contract gives the title of Berkeley's work as "Machines to help us think"; the more arresting "Giant brains or machines that think" was evidently thought of later. The latter title played to the controversial issue of whether or not electronic computers could think. Berkeley signed this contract less than a year after ENIAC was made public in February, 1946. OOC 459.
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