Computers were presented as impartially authoritative economic oracles at the 1964 World’s Fair.

Evidence

The hall was a paradigmatic repre­sen­ta­tion of the economist as an unerring, neutral source of information. Its central feature was a computer that would print out answers on slips of paper to questions visitors typed in. The New Republic reported, “­There is a kind of oracular infallibility to this machine that makes it more impressive than a live pundit. A group of awe-­stricken visitors punched it and read replies. What it said must be so, they seemed to feel, ­because ­after all a machine is unbiased and impartial.” — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 538

Categorization

• CANDY: A 1964 World’s Fair computer that dispensed economic oracles on paper slips — a fun, self-contained historical curiosity.
• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of expert authority/technocracy in the book and to mid-century faith in computational objectivity.