Douglas Engelbart in a Flow of Inspirations
“The mouse was one concrete invention that arose from his Augmented Human Intelligence Research Center [...] where he and a small group of colleagues began developing the NLS, [pioneering] the use of computing to complement human intelligence, what he called “augmented intelligence” rather than artificial intelligence (AI)." While Engelbart was in part inspired by Vannevar Bush through his article ‘As We May Think’, Engelbart in turn inspired others, such as Ted Nelson of Hypertext and Xanadu fame.
75 Years of Innovation: Computer Vision
“SRI International has contributed to the blurring of the boundaries between humans and computers [...] From the humble computer mouse to augmented reality and computer vision, SRI has made computing more human, more compelling, and widened the scope of its use for the good of humanity.”
From the series 75 years of innovation at SRI International
Advent of Computing - Podcast 2021
“Advent of Computing, the podcast that talks about the shocking, intriguing, and all too often relevant history of computing. A lot of little things we take for granted today have rich stories behind their creation, in each episode we will learn how older tech has led to our modern world.” This two-part podcast on Doug Engelbart's oN-Line System (NLS) details the evolution of the world's first personal, interactive, collaborative, hypermedia, networked system that was featured in the now famous 'Mother of All Demos'. Could use some fact-checking, but largely well researched, with great insight, well told!
Check out
NLS: Part 1 | NLS: Part 2 | The Engelbart Audio Collection
Engelbart: Collective intelligence and IQ
“He also put forward an early and full vision of collective intelligence and the idea of collective IQ. He envisioned much of this before the advent of the internet but foresaw the importance of networked knowledge and the networked organisation.”
See Also: Extended Minds Interview | Post this is Part Of
Meta’s sci-fi haptic glove prototype lets you feel VR objects using air pockets
A new sci-fi interface for the metaverse - "Doug Engelbart and Xerox PARC are the only time that fundamentally the way we interact with the digital world has ever changed,” Abrash says — referring to [inventions] that helped set the course of modern personal computing.”
"The Rise of Social Media" — Ponderings from a 3-Credit Course A Q&A with Gardner Campbell
Exploring the history, trends, and perhaps even the future of what we now call social media. [...] You don't have to look far to see how early ideas of computing from Vannevar Bush in the 1940s led to what Doug Engelbart tried to do in his famous 1968 demo and throughout his career with the augmenting intellect conceptual framework, and how both of those led to Tim Berners-Lee as he was thinking about design principles of the Web...
Improvement communities
“Improving the way we improve is a collective effort with exponential rewards. But why have so few industries embraced it?”
See companion article Collective IQ and Continuous Improvement
Collective IQ and Continuous Improvement
“How do you harness the collective intelligence of a group, solve difficult problems, and share what you learn?”
An excellent distillation and synthesis of Doug Engelbart's driving vision for navigating accelerating change. See companion article Improvement communities
How Humans Think When They Think As Part of a Group
“The fancy word for it is "entitativity," and it’s produced when people act and feel together in close proximity. We need it more, but we’re getting it less.” Not an Engelbart article, but it's right up our alley.
How to Think Outside Your Brain
“Our culture insists that the brain is the sole locus of thinking. Ms. Paul challenges us to rethink what we think about thinking. Our bodies, our social networks and our surroundings, she argues, are “extra-neural” inputs that have a profound influence on cognition."
This article is a prelude to her new book The Extended Mind. Her work aligns brilliantly with Doug Engelbart's concepts of augmented intellect and collective IQ.
Related Articles Appearing In: Washington Post | Author's Website
The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain
“A bold new book reveals how we can tap the intelligence that exists beyond our brains—in our bodies, our surroundings, and our relationships.”
Although this book does not include or reference Doug Engelbart's work, it is quite relevant.
Innovation Monitor — Inventor Edition: Douglas Engelbart and interactive computing
“The invention of the mouse was less about a handheld device and more about the way a great inventor envisioned a future of interactive computing. Douglas Engelbart strongly believed in a future where machines helped humans be better — why he called his lab the Augmentation Research Center.
[...]
As our interfaces to computers have continued to evolve — from the mouse, to multi-gesture trackpads, to extended reality (XR) navigation — take a moment to remember how The Mother of All Demos helped usher in this age of interactivity...”
The first commercial computer mouse shipped 40 years ago today
“The mouse was actually invented in the 1960s by Doug Engelbart and Bill English at SRI International’s Augmentation Research Center. It was shown off for the first time at a December 1968 demonstration that would put the most packed Apple keynote to shame. Along with the mouse, Engelbart demoed windows, hypertext, computer graphics, videoconferencing, word processing, collaborative real-time editing, and much more. In the history books, the event has come to be known as the 'Mother of All Demos.'”
Engelbart Alumnus Bill Paxton: An Accidental Astrophysicist
“The American Astronomical Society honors [Engelbart alumnus Bill Paxton] an unlikely astrophysics leader from UC Santa Barbara” ... "While working at the Stanford Research Institute in 1968, he participated in what was later dubbed The Mother of All Demos, during which researcher Douglas Engelbart previewed many features that would become staples of personal computing."
Watch Paxton with Engelbart in 1968 Demo | More about the Demo
We need a humanitarian vision for AI and robotics
“Back in 1962, Doug Engelbart hypothesized that the future of our race lay not in replacing humans but in augmenting them...”
Augmenting the Learning Dialogue Online
A Q&A with Gardner Campbell “We've heard a lot lately about moving the remote learning experience farther away from a training model and closer to a collaborative learning model in which students participate together in the co-creation or discovery of knowledge.
As far back as the 1960s, alongside the work of Doug Engelbart, people have dreamed about ways to augment the knowledge worker, the researcher, the scholar, the faculty, and the student... Today, a conversation about how to do that ”
Why it’s a mistake to bet against Silicon Valley
“The latest wave of tech companies quitting California may have mistaken what makes it a center of innovation. [...] like Doug Engelbart's hypertext and mouse, Alan Kay's Dynabook”
1969: Building the oN-Line System
“The December 1968 demo had established Engelbart’s credentials as a rock star in the computer industry." Just under a year later, in December 1969, his group at the Stanford Research Institute presented a sequel to the demo, and became one of the first two nodes on the ARPANET — the forerunner of today’s Internet.”
See also Engelbart's 1969 Demo Sequel at dougengelbart.org
Douglas Engelbart, the Man Who Taught Us to Talk to Machines
“his self-confessed life’s goal: nothing less than to harness the full power of the human intellect to solve the world’s great problems and make it a better place”
Information: A Historical Companion
This book offers a "landmark history that traces the creation, management, and sharing of information through six centuries” - exploring how information has shaped and been shaped by human society, offering views of history through the lens of information, and views of information through the lens of history.
Find Doug Engelbart on pages 249, 252, 256, 266-268.
See also: Table of Contents & Index | Book Review | Book on Amazon