George Dyson

Long before TED 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2006, I lived for 18 years in Belcarra Park, on Burrard Inlet at the entrance to Indian Arm, just 7 miles from Canada Place (a Canadian Pacific Railway switching yard at that time). Three of those years were in a treehouse 95 feet up in a Douglas fir. Some of these early adventures on the coast of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska were chronicled in Kenneth Brower's THE STARSHIP AND THE CANOE. As a historian of technology, my interests have included the development (and redevelopment) of the Aleut kayak (BAIDARKA, 1986), the evolution of digital computing and telecommunications (DARWIN AMONG THE MACHINES, 1997), and a path not taken into space (PROJECT ORION, 2002). TURING'S CATHEDRAL (2012) illuminates the transition from numbers that *mean* things to numbers that *do* things in the aftermath of World War II. I currently live in Bellingham, Washington, maintain a foothold on an island at the junction of Johnstone and Queen Charlotte Straits, and divide my time between working on boats and writing books. Welcome to Vancouver!