In his 2026 reflection on Tracy Kidder’s Pulitzer-winning book The Soul of a New Machine, Dan Cohen draws parallels between the 1970s minicomputer revolution and today's AI hype. He highlights that just as the Eclipse MV/8000 transformed work by moving companies from paper to digital processing, current AI technology raises similar debates about its impact, purpose, and ethical concerns, emphasizing that both eras focus on creating tools to aid human work rather than imbuing machines with intelligence.
https://newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-role-of-a-new-machine/