I've just discovered a recording of a presentation given by Doug Engelbart at Accelerating Change 2004 on my mp3 player. I downloaded it from ITCoversations as a podcast and wasn't aware of getting it.
Inspiring stuff, as one might expect, and I haven't got to the end, yet. Engelbart talks about the difficulty of explaining ideas to people which are way outside the dominant paradigm, as well as talking about the ideas he's been developing over half a century. Interesting, according to the Wikipedia page about him, he's had his own paradigm-related difficulties (first para).
In 1962 Engelbart wrote in the introduction to his report AUGMENTING HUMAN INTELLECT: A Conceptual Framework:
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. Increased capability in this respect is taken to mean a mixture of the following: more-rapid comprehension, better comprehension, the possibility of gaining a useful degree of comprehension in a situation that previously was too complex, speedier solutions, better solutions, and the possibility of finding solutions to problems that before seemed insoluble. And by "complex situations" we include the professional problems of diplomats, executives, social scientists, life scientists, physical scientists, attorneys, designers--whether the problem situation exists for twenty minutes or twenty years. We do not speak of isolated clever tricks that help in particular situations. We refer to a way of life in an integrated domain where hunches, cut-and-try, intangibles, and the human "feel for a situation" usefully co-exist with powerful concepts, streamlined terminology and notation, sophisticated methods, and high-powered electronic aids.
Man's population and gross product are increasing at a considerable rate, but the complexity of his problems grows still faster, and the urgency with which solutions must be found becomes steadily greater in response to the increased rate of activity and the increasingly global nature of that activity. Augmenting man's intellect, in the sense defined above, would warrant full pursuit by an enlightened society if there could be shown a reasonable approach and some plausible benefits.
The urgency is all the greater now, and little progress has been made on the tools.
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