>>AI Can Be Analogous to Steam Power’ or from the ‘Postindustrial Society’ to the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’: An Intellectual History of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract. This article provides an intellectual history of artif icial intelligence in the
electronic era of computing, that is, from the postwar decades to the present. We
argue for the existence of two periods; a f irst period, def ined by the discourse of a
post-industrial society and an information age, and a second one, characterised
by the discourse of a fourth industrial revolution. Discourses of a post-industrial
society and a fourth industrial revolution are constitutively related to discourses
of computer automation, which, in turn, are def ined by artif icial intelligence.
This paper provides a canvas of an intellectual history of artif icial intelligence
in the electronic era through the examination of discourses of this period on
computer automation.