Kittler - Pynchon - Zuse: Computers during World War Two (Goldstrasz/Pantle)

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

At least for the case of Zuse the argument is striking!

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Thomas Goldstrasz & Henrik Pantle:


  Computers During World War Two


      Abstract

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        The Second World War,

        according to a well-known theory of the Berlin aesthetic
        theorist Friedrich Kittler, was necessary for the development of
        the computer. This theory forms part of his more general
        assertion that entertainment devices (i.e. media) have always,
        by nature so to speak, represented `misuse of military
        equipment'. And at first glance, i.e. on a first reading of
        /Grammophon Film Typewriter/ (GFT), his argument seems
        watertight enough. In an impressive style, much inspired by
        Pynchon, Kittler gives us a description of war as a problem of
        information processing which is essential to the process of
        human media production.

        At this point, Bolz's interpretation, depicting war as the
        father of all media, converges with Kittler's (cf. EGU: 130). He
        has suggested that war creates embryonic communication
        technologies in minds and systems, as well as making enough
        money available to ensure that these children grow big and
        strong (the logic of this analogy states: without Father War, no
        Children Media).

        One example used by Kittler to illustrate his the `theory of
        misuse' for WWII is Bletchley Park, the top secret location
        where English cryptologists deciphered the Nazis's
        machine-generated Enigma codes. The world's first theoretical
        computer scientist, Alan Turing, worked there, applying his
        knowledge and genius to the problems of cryptology and
        initiating the development of the computer in England in the
        process.


        Our discovery that the influence of the Second World War

        on the development of the computer was more a coincidence than a
        necessity, thus refuting Kittler's theory, was a result of our
        reading of Konrad Zuse's book /The Computer - My Life/ (TCML).

        Zuse constructed his computers Z1-Z4 during but in no way due to
        WWII. Contrary to Kittler's claims, the Nazis quite simply
        missed the opportunity of exploiting Zuse's private computer
        seriously (i.e. with top priority and large sums of money) for
        the solution of their (information) problems. Zuse's machines
        remained civilian equipment throughout WWII, which shows that
        the computer is not a machine of war, at least not by nature.

        This independent invention of the computer outside the context
        of the war and of events in England also underlines the need to
        attribute fatherhood not to events but to individuals. The
        computer had several fathers, two of whom were undoubtedly
        Turing and Zuse, one of whom stood before his invention as a
        private person in civilian clothing.

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http://waste.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Diplom/ww2/default_e.html
http://waste.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Diplom/ww2/zuse_picture.html

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