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Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

dougengelbart.org

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Re: Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

#11

Post by gjvc »

rektide wrote: post #3

> Can I get a raise of hands for folks who think "Dream Machines" is the #1 book on software? How about for those who believe that Engelbart's Augmenting Human Intellect is a driving force for humanity? And that software is a radical embodiment of that all? I think we can get a modest show of hands; I've seen enough confirming points of view from about. (Would that I have a memex to highlight all the mentions I've se…

i do not believe in the romantic part, but the Englebart vision and direction is what computers are for; everything else, while perhaps once praiseworthy, has become a diabolical local maxima.

Re: Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

#12

Post by gjvc »

RivieraKid wrote: post #7

Is there a TL;DR version? Before you downvote, I don't want to invest hours into reading something when 80% of the value can probably be summarized into one paragraph. BTW, I wonder how many of the people who upvoted this have actually read it.

I have never read quite such a lazy comment on HN. Do your own research, instead of grifting off other people's opinions.

Re: Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

#14

Post by Guthur »

RivieraKid wrote: post #7

Is there a TL;DR version? Before you downvote, I don't want to invest hours into reading something when 80% of the value can probably be summarized into one paragraph. BTW, I wonder how many of the people who upvoted this have actually read it.

The conclusion is not a bad place to start https://www.dougengelbart.org/content/view/138/#6

If I was to add my own spin to the problem outlined, I think it would be one of information and organisation. If we can significantly improve the bandwidth of information flow between individuals and groups, and then more efficiently organised larger groups towards a singular task we could achieve many things.

Some groups do achieve great things but it's not clear to me that we've codified how this can be achieved and/or identified what is required for such success.

Re: Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

#15

Post by User23 »

Atlantium wrote: post #8
User23 wrote: post #6

> By "augmenting human intellect" we mean increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, to gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems. Sounds like math.

It sounds like general problem solving ie. Collect all the individual components of the problem and research the known methods of connecting the components to each other to achieve the desired result. When the desired result is found the problem is solved. It's how basic word problems are formatted. This is well documented. The problem is getting humans to follow the steps instead of making what they think are intuit…

Right. That’s what math is for. Intuition is well and good, but rigor demands deriving the path you leapt ahead on.

Re: Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

#16

Post by kgarten »

So happy to see this pop up on hacker news again. An anecdote (as far as I can remember it correctly), during one of his award lectures (after the 1997 Turing award), he was asked why he thinks that some of his tech was easily adapted (mouse etc.) and some others weren't (hyperlinks). He answered "Maybe the time is not right yet." ;)

Shameless self plug: I'm part of a couple of crazy scientists and enthusiasts following work from Doug Engelbart, Wiener, Stelarc etc. Our yearly conference is coming up next week: https://augmented-humans.org/

Here's a preview of this years work ... happy to see some crazy works there as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYmu2bFN6kE

Last year we had a keynote from Stelarc (linked from my blog): https://kaikunze.de/post/2020-02-18-augmented-humans/

edited: anecdote fixed + spelling

Re: Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

#17

Post by hinkley »

jarmitage wrote: post #4

My favourite part is still the 'demo' of tying a brick to a pen to prove the power of augmentation via de-augmentation

Something I can never quite explain to people is that when I can navigate the information faster, I can see deeper problems. Every time someone decided that this is good enough and that I “should be able to figure it out, what’s the big deal?” I am stymied.

Which would sound like someone whining about how the bigger kids are running too fast, but when I finally get fed up and fix the code, half the time I’m the one who spots the underlying problem that makes a big difference. Accidental complexity kills invention. Every time we make a better tool, we reduce the accidental complexity.

If we ever figure out how to draw or write directly from the motor cortex, no hands involved, that will be a new Enlightenment.

Re: Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

#18

Post by justin66 »

RivieraKid wrote: post #7

Is there a TL;DR version? Before you downvote, I don't want to invest hours into reading something when 80% of the value can probably be summarized into one paragraph. BTW, I wonder how many of the people who upvoted this have actually read it.

If the part of your brain responsible for reading things got shot off in the war, the smart move would be to find and watch the “Mother of all Demos” video in its entirety. It is how most people are introduced to Englebart’s ideas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos

Re: Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)

#20

Post by 29athrowaway »

Judgmentality wrote: post #19
29athrowaway wrote: post #5

Each time I see the Mother of all demos, I think to myself that this guy must be a time traveler from the future.

I guess I'm too young, as today is my first time hearing about this guy or that demo. It's a cool bit of history for sure.

I recommend reading about the oN-Line System.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLS_(computer_system)#Firsts

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