If Then: How One Data Company Invented the Future

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If Then by Jill Lepore: Episode 5

If Then by Jill Lepore

Episode 5

BBC Radio 4 - If Then by Jill Lepore, Episode 5

After a disastrous campaign in Saigon, the writing is on the wall for Simulmatics.

After a disastrous campaign in Saigon, the writing is on the wall for Simulmatics. Written by Jill Lepore. Abridged by Eileen Horne. Read by Laurel Lefkow.

Jill Lepore uncovers the history of Simulmatics, the forgotten US data company that paved the way for Facebook, Amazon and Cambridge Analytica. 

After a disastrous campaign in Saigon, the writing is on the wall for Simulmatics. But the theories and practices that the company were built on will transform commerce, politics and communication. 

Jill Lepore is Professor of American History at Harvard University. A staff writer at The New Yorker and host of podcast The Last Archive, she is an award-winning writer of books on diverse topics, from American democracy to Wonder Woman.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Laurel Lefkow
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

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The true story of how a data company in '60s America invented the future we now live in.

Book of the Week. Harvard historian Jill Lepore unearths from the archives the almost unbelievable story of how a data company in '60s America invented the future we now live in.

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