tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29868932.post3403233179526256417..comments2024-02-14T22:50:48.749+10:30Comments on Bill Kerr: engelbart: co-evolution of humans with machinesBill Kerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206808014093631762noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29868932.post-40234096362319921582008-12-13T18:47:00.000+10:302008-12-13T18:47:00.000+10:30Engelbart was more perceptive than I thought. When...Engelbart was more perceptive than I thought. When I heard about Engelbart being worried about complexity, I thought it just had to do with people being unable to keep up with the mechanisms of civilization, and the important interactions in our world.<BR/><BR/>According to what I read a couple years ago there has been a battle going on for decades between those who believe in augmentation/symbiosis/a scientific approach to computing and those who believe in automation. More often than not automation has won. Alan Kay would probably say that the reason augmentation has not been supported and adopted more is cultural. It takes seeing the computer as a technology of historic cultural significance, as significant as the printing press and the book, rather than just a machine for processing data. This is the hard part of the challenge, because how do we affect cultural change so that people will see what the computer is really good for? One way is through the schools, but then you run up against old ideas in the teachers and those who govern the curriculum. That's a problem I don't know how to solve, except to just communicate the ideas as best we can to those who will listen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com