"The Dream Machine" traces the origins of personal, networked computing to J. C. R. "Lick" Licklider, a psychologist-turned-computer scientist who witnessed (and often supported) almost every major development in 20th-century IT, from integrated circuits to human-computer interaction, to the ARPA- and Internet, inventing the entire field of Cybernetics on the way. It's a fascinating and inspiring account of the idea of a machine as a complement to human thinking and decision-making, and the rise of personal computers. The book follows the big ideas of this rise with its inventions and hacks, as well as its dead ends, squandered opportunities, ego clashes and management failures (which take up a sizable part).
I read a large chunk of this book over Mozfest, and it really struck me how white and male the entire story was (if there was a Bechtel test for books, this would fail disastrously), and it got me thinking how things might have turned out if a more representative crowd (like the one at Mozfest) had gotten the chance to provide input on the tech we use today.
"The Dream Machine" traces the origins of personal, networked computing to J. C. R. "Lick" Licklider, a psychologist-turned-computer scientist who witnessed (and often supported) almost every major development in 20th-century IT, from integrated circuits to human-computer interaction, to the ARPA- and Internet, inventing the entire field of Cybernetics on the way. It's a fascinating and inspiring account of the idea of a machine as a complement to human thinking and decision-making, and the rise of personal computers. The book follows the big ideas of this rise with its inventions and hacks, as well as its dead ends, squandered opportunities, ego clashes and management failures (which take up a sizable part).
I read a large chunk of this book over Mozfest, and it really struck me how white and male the entire story was (if there was a Bechtel test for books, this would fail disastrously), and it got me thinking how things might have turned out if a more representative crowd (like the one at Mozfest) had gotten the chance to provide input on the tech we use today.