Scholar's Award: Revolutionary Computing: Technology, Politics, and the Chilean Road to Socialism

智利在20世纪70年代初创建了一个计算机网络，比互联网成为日常生活的一部分早了几十年。智利的这一网络努力与美国的阿帕网同时出现，但没有受到其更著名的同行的影响。相反，智利是一个独立的奋进，由一套不同的政治动机推动，并受到国家有限的技术资源的限制。这一技术创新恰逢智利政治史上一个独特的时刻，即社会党人萨尔瓦多阿连德戈森斯当选智利总统府。阿连德的“智利社会主义之路”包括一个积极的国有化计划。考虑到这一国有化进程的范围和复杂性，阿连德政府的成员提议建立一个计算机系统来管理智利从资本主义到社会主义的经济转型。该系统在英语中被称为Project Cybersyn，在西班牙语中被称为Proyecto Synco，使用大型计算机，定制软件和电传机网络将数据从国有化的工厂迅速传输到智利政府。该项目得到了阿连德的支持，并帮助政府度过了最终导致1973年9月11日暴力军事政变的社会和经济动荡。拟议的研究将导致项目Cybersyn的历史和学术文章。它将使用公认的历史方法，包括档案文件和口述历史访谈。这项研究具有智力价值，原因有很多。首先，它说明了技术如何促进智利的社会主义实验，并构成智利革命进程的一个独特方面。它揭示了智利历史上新的和未被研究的方面，包括政府如何将控制论思想纳入其经济改革计划，控制广泛的罢工活动和政治异议，并设想智利的现代化。其次，Cybersyn的历史为技术史和计算史带来了拉丁美洲的视角以及发展中国家的视角，这些领域在很大程度上忽视了发展中国家的经验。第三，这项研究开辟了新天地，弥合两个不同的文献，即技术史和拉丁美洲的历史。它的目的是形成一个新的历史子领域，致力于在拉丁美洲地区的技术研究的基础。第四，研究通过使用非正统的源材料，如计算机程序文档，系统图和技术工件，展示了方法的创造性。更广泛的影响。该项目将产生更广泛的影响，因为它的跨学科范围将产生对历史，拉丁美洲研究，科学研究，政治学，运筹学和技术政策等领域感兴趣的研究。公布的结果将提高公众对智利国家历史的认识，并阐明这个拉丁美洲国家对日常生活许多方面所使用的技术的贡献。此外，研究成果将被翻译成西班牙语，以达到拉丁美洲的观众，从而促进国际参与的方法，调查结果和概念，从技术的历史和扩大参与该领域。最后，研究结果将通知和加强我在印第安纳州大学，在那里我教学生技术的历史和技术与政治的关系的教学活动。

Chile created a computer network in the early 1970s, decades before the Internet became a feature of everyday life. This Chilean networking effort emerged in parallel with the U.S. ARPANET, but was not influenced by its more famous counterpart. Rather, Chile's was an independent endeavor fueled by a different set of political motivations and constrained by the nation's limited technological resources. This technological innovation coincided with a unique moment in Chilean political history, namely, the election of Socialist Salvador Allende Gossens to the Chilean Presidential Palace. Allende's "Chilean road to socialism" included an aggressive nationalization program. Given the scope and complexity of this nationalization process, members of the Allende government proposed creating a computer system to regulate Chile's economic transition from capitalism to socialism. The system, known as Project Cybersyn in English and Proyecto Synco in Spanish, used a mainframe computer, customized software, and a network of telex machines to transmit data rapidly from the nationalized factories to the Chilean government. This project received support from Allende and helped the government navigate the social and economic upheavals that ultimately led to the violent military coup of September 11, 1973. The proposed research will result in a history of Project Cybersyn and in scholarly articles. It will use accepted historical methods, including archival documents and oral history interviews.Intellectual Merit. This research has intellectual merit for a number of reasons. First, it illustrates how technology contributed to Chile's socialist experiment and constituted a unique facet of the Chilean revolutionary process. It brings to light new and unstudied aspects of Chilean history, including how the government incorporated cybernetic ideas in its plans for economic change, controlled widespread strike activity and political dissent, and envisioned Chilean modernity. Second, the Cybersyn history brings a Latin American perspective as well as a developing world perspective to the history of technology and the history of computing, fields that have largely overlooked the experiences of developing nations. Third, this research breaks new ground by bridging two disparate literatures, namely, the history of technology and the history of Latin America. It aims to form the basis for a new historical subfield dedicated to studies of technology in the Latin American region. Fourth, the research exhibits methodological creativity through the use of unorthodox source materials such as computer program documentation, system diagrams, and technological artifacts. Broader Impact. This project will have broader impact because its interdisciplinary scope will produce research of interest to those in history, Latin American studies, science studies, political science, operations research, and technology policy, among others. The published results will raise public awareness of Chilean national history and illuminate the contributions of this Latin American country to a technology used in many facets of daily life. In addition, research results will be translated into Spanish to reach a Latin American audience, thereby furthering international engagement with methods, findings, and concepts from the history of technology and broadening participation in the field. Finally, research findings will inform and enhance my teaching activities at Indiana University, where I educate students on the history of technology and the relationship of technology and politics.