Doug EngelbartDoug Engelbart[...] before people could write things down, men could only learn what they experienced or were told by others in person; writing changed all that. Within the computer-screen fraternity, the next step is obvious; screens can double and redouble our intellectural capacities. But this is not obvious to everybody. Engelbart, patiently instructing those outside [Stanford Research Institute], came up with a beautiful example. To show what he meant by the Augmentation of Intellect, Engelbart tied a pencil to a brick. Then he actually made someone write with it. The result, which was of course dreadful, Engelbart solemnly put into a published report. Not yet being able to demonstrate the augmentation of intellect, since he had as yet no system to show off, he had masterfully demonstrated the disaugmentation of intellect: what happens if you make man's tools for working out his thoughts worse instead of better. As this poor guy was with his brickified pencil, explained Engelbart, so are we all among our bothersome, inflexible systems of paper.
Page last edited July 27, 2002 |