Think Different: Apple, the Counterculture, and Digital Culture, 1976-2026

As we approach the 50th anniversary of Apple Inc. on April 1, 2026, the counterculture's influence on the company's origins and brand continues to draw significant attention. This program will look at the founding of Apple through the lens of the counterculture movement that, by the mid-1970s, was shaping Silicon Valley as well as mainstream culture. What role did hippie values play in Apple’s early days? How did these values fare as the company became a tech giant? What does Apple's story tell us about the tech industry's history and profile today?

Two leading experts will address these questions and others. John Markoff is a former New York Times technology reporter and the author of two critically acclaimed books: Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (2022) and What The Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computing Industry (2005). Fred Turner is the Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication at Stanford University. His publications include From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism (2006), a seminal book on this critical subject.

Markoff and Turner will be in conversation with Peter Richardson, who taught American Studies at San Francisco State University and has written extensively about Bay Area culture. His latest book, Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine, will appear in April.

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