Lanning’s Output and a Familiar Fear

I was fascinated by Elyse Graham ’07’s reminiscence about Theodore George Lanning, the ghostwriter extraordinaire who captivated the campus in the late 1930s (Princeton Portrait, May issue). The notion that he wrote four senior theses in one year is a little mind-boggling for most of us who struggled to finish one. Of course, he had a mercenary interest in maximizing his output.

The idea that he prided himself of being able to mimic any style — quite a talent in itself — made me realize that in his own way, Lanning was almost a century ahead of himself. He was a precursor of AI — and just as feared and unpopular with those who expect students to create something that is uniquely theirs.