Best Of IT Conversations

I’ve mentioned IT Conversations here a few times before in the context of other subjects, but I recently recommended a bunch of my favorite episodes to a friend for a trip he was leaving on and he suggested I reproduce the list here. Some of these talks played a big part in getting me excited about some of things I’ve written about here, so I thought that made some sense. Here goes (it’s in approximate order of “favorite-ness”):

George Dyson
the son of Freeman Dyson, on John Von Neumann and the origin of “hacker” culture.
Philip Greenspun
a web publishing pioneer and creator of Photo.net, one of the first online communities.
Neil Gershenfeld
chief of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms on the future of desktop fabrication: the coming ability of anyone to design, make, and build anything. Mind blowing.
Paul Graham
founder of Viaweb and excellent tech-essayist, about genius generally, and great hackers, in particular.
Bruce Schneier

a web and computer security expert. Sounds dry, but is actually filled with some rare rational insight on the post 9/11 security world.
Larry Lessig
creator of the Creative Commons. The material may be familiar but it’s interesting to hear how much of a firebrand Lessig is, and how convincing.
Steve Wozniak
brilliant, nutty inventor of the Mac on his whole life story and interests.
Malcolm Gladwell
New Yorker reporter and author who investigates the surprising ways we think and make decisions
Cory Doctorow
sci-fi author, BoingBoing-creator, and EFF advocate on the problems of controlling complex systems and the threat to IT from Hollywood.
Clay Shirky
insightful stuff on new uses of cell phones. Short.
Doc Searls
One of the original bloggers talking about DIY IT.

This is only just a sample, click around on the site and you’ll find a bunch more interesting things on any of a number of tech topics. Lots of good stuff to fill your iPod with.

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