Douglas Engelbart

Who are you betting on: humanity or artificial intelligence? Frankly, I am betting on humanity even though humanity is made up of humans and humans have flaws and sometimes do really dumb things. The way that I figure the future will unfold is that sometimes the AI will be in control, other times humans will be in control; but over all, humans need to maintain control. 

A computer is a tool just like a gun is a tool. A gun can be used to bring home dinner.  You can shoot yourself in the foot. A gun can also be used to murder someone or even mass murder or war. A gun is a tool.  I don't want to get into the gun control debate but think about that as you think about artificial intelligence; AI is a tool.  The problem with AI is not the AI tool; it is humans applying the AI tool inappropriately.

Tools change the way we think.  Tools extend your mind. Engelbart described "aggregate work capacity" and "augmented capabilities" and the human system being augmented by the computer as a tool in the 1960s. He also pointed out that our technology is changing faster than humans ability to adapt to change.

Doug Engelbart apparently invented the mouse, not Xerox. Douglas Engelbart invented the computer mouse in the 1960s while he was working at the Stanford Research Institute.  The computer mouse was demonstrated in 1968 during The Mother of All Demos which showcased various technologies. Englebart's work predates the work of Xerox PARC. Engelbart's impact was significantly greater than the computer mouse; he seems to be what I would call a "meta-visionary".  I would describe a meta-visionary as someone who sees the bigger picture that other visionaries visions should probably fit into.


Did you know that Nikola Tesla described smart phones and the Internet in 1926? Apparently that is true.  In the grand scheme of things, it really does not matter who invented what; every idea is built on a foundation of all the other ideas that came before it.

"Standing on the shoulders of giants," is the notion of moving things forward by using the ideas of the great thinkers that have come before us. Douglas Engelbart was one of those giants.

Here is information about Douglas Engelbart who took the notion of "vision" to a whole new level.

Douglas Engelbart was a visionary far, far ahead of his time.  Well, we are starting to catch up to Doug. Maybe it is time to have another look at what Engelbart was thinking.  But just as with Orville and Wilbur Wright and their Wright Flyer; you need to put the pieces together properly to make the system work as you expected. That is the ultimate test of a system: does it work.

And be sure to remember the fable about the three little pigs.

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