Difference between revisions of "Alan Kay Talk at 40th Anniversary of Mother of All Demos (2008)"
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+ | <subtitle id="0:0:9">introduction he's widely known as the inventor of the small talk</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:1">so our last speaker today is Alan</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:4">who's president of viewpoints Research Institute he</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:7"> really needs no introduction he's widely known as the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:10">inventor of the small talk programming language among many</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:13"> other things like Doug he was inspired to persuade</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:16">computers to become our assistance and intelligent tasks</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:19"> especially teaching and learning his Holy</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:22"> Grail was the dynabook a portable personal computer nestled</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:25"> in the lap of a young student in a park who is casually</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:28"> pursuing her own Learning Path Alan</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:31"> has 30 minutes Alan</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:43">so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:46"> they asked me to speak last and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:49"> with a lineup of people</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:52"> that were on the program I figure it would be suicide</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:55"> to try and prepare a talk ahead of time</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:0:58"> because why I</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:1"> figured with great luck all</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:4"> the points I would have talked about will they have been covered</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:7"> already and so the very</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:10"> first thing I wrote in my notebook here</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:13"> was thank you all for coming</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:16"> but the idea</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:19"> was to perhaps look at</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:22"> a couple of things from a slightly different angle and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:25"> talk</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:28"> a little bit about the significance of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:31"> this marvelous work we're celebrating</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:34"> today and these marvelous people</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:37"> who did it I like to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:40"> think of things</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:43"> in terms of threes and we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:46"> are very rightly celebrating Doug Engelbart but</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:49"> it was fantastic to have Bob Taylor</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:52"> here who is the funder and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:55"> if you think about the rewards and awards</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:1:58"> people get later in life doug has</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:1"> gotten all the ones you can get but</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:4"> there's nothing like a funder because a funder</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:7">is giving you that gold medal ahead of time on</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:10"> spec</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:19">and moreover they</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:22"> know that two-thirds of those gold</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:25"> medals if they're lucky are going to turn to lead before</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:28"> the end of the work and so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:31"> it's the faith of the second group of people</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:34"> who bob was</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:37"> characteristically subtle</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:40"> about expressing his</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:43"> opinion about how funding is today I</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:46"> remember him once I</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:49"> guess 15 or 20 years ago giving</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:52"> a talk about</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:55"> the 60s in the in the 70s</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:2:58"> and somebody in the audience accused him of being an</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:1"> old fogey again because old fogies</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:4"> always are referring back to a golden</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:7"> age and today is never as good as</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:10"> it wasn't Taylor thought for a few minutes and he</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:13"> looked up and he said damn it it was a golden</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:16"> age</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:19"></subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:22"></subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:25"> thorough I</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:28"> have a hard time pronouncing it the way you're supposed</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:31">to be out in the world because I come from Massachusetts</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:34"> and Thoreau was pronounced thorough there</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:37"> so my my tongue is wagging</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:40"> back and forth here's an interesting guy and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:43"> very late in his life</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:46"> in 1865</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:49"> when the first transatlantic cable</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:52"> went in between our country and England</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:55"> he was asked what he thought of it and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:3:58"> he said he was afraid he would find</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:1"> out that a European princess had just gotten a</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:7">nd I</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:10"> believe that is the one of the earliest</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:13"> examples of completely nailing</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:16"> the two sides of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:19"> Technology here's one of the most difficult feats they</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:22"> fail this of course could be used</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:25"> for expressing really important</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:28"> information back and forth but throw understood</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:31"> exactly who human beings are and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:34"> what they're likely to do with any good</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:37"> idea another</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:40"> great line of his Express a little earlier was</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:43"> that we become the tools of our tools and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:46"> McLuhan used this idea many</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:49"> years later when he said we first</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:52"> shaped tools and then they turn around and reshape us</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:55"> and all</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:4:58"> of these ideas are basically double-edged swords</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:1"> so that every technology</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:4"> is usually done to amplify something in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:7"> every amplifier we make and also act as a</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:10"> prosthetic if you put a prosthetic on</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:13"> a healthy limb it starts to wither and so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:16"> there's this interesting problem of when</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:19"> I make something that is supposed to augment</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:22"> us how can I help people avoid</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:25"> using it to replace something</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:28"> that we already have and we wind up with less I believe</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:31"> this is the fundamental problem of the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:34"> 20th century and especially of our age</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:37"> now one of ways I think</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:40"> of it is that when ever</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:43"> a new idea an idea comes along</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:46"> there's news and there's new</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:49"> so news is</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:52"> stuff that's incremental on what we already know</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:55"> news can be told in just a couple</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:5:58"> of minutes it's the kind of thing that people are always</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:1"> exchanging with each other and they often mistake</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:4"> news for ideas but</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:7"> in fact news is so simple that it</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:10"> leverages almost everything we know and it's just pushing things</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:13"> one way or another and so when Gutenberg</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:16"> did his Bible</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:19"> it</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:22"> was treated enthusiastically as</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:25"> news and in fact</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:28"> they made the bible's to look as much like handwritten</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:31"> manuscripts as possible i'm sure many people</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:34"> here have seen a Gutenberg Bible but they were illuminated</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:37"> by hand after they were printed</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:40"> and the fonts the Gutenberg used</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:43"> were had</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:46"> I think 100 250 three separate characters</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:49"> because every ligature every</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:52"> abbreviation that people are used</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:55"> to reading from them from the scribes Gutenberg</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:6:58"> copied and used</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:1"> the best ink in the best paper and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:4">of these Gutenberg Bibles look like they were printed yesterday</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:7"> and they were treated as a</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:10"> really great idea and also</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:13"> unremarkable and so in fact</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:16"> the Catholic Church which was</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:19"> in power at that time thought</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:22"> the printing press was a good idea also</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:25"> but</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:28"> also when an idea comes along if the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:31"> idea is a good one there's also new and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:34"> new is something</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:37"> that doesn't isn't explainable in what</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:40"> you already know and so it's</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:43"> something that people very often</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:46"> find a way of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:49"> ignoring in favor of the news part of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:52"> things what was knew about the printing press we saw in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:55"> the 17th century when our entire</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:7:58"> conception of thought changed</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:1"> with the invention of science and our entire</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:4"> conception of government changed</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:7"> with the invention of representative democracies</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:10"> of various kinds and this is the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:13"> two paired together or not and what not an accident</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:16"> a favorite</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:19"> phrase of mine from Tom Paine's Common Sense</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:22"> which is written in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:25"> January 1776 and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:28"> before the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:31"> Declaration of Independence was pinned</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:34"> and put out in July in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:37"> those six months or so somewhere</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:40">hundred thousand and nine hundred thousand</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:43"> copies of common sense were printed and distributed</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:46"> throughout the thirteen colonies and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:49"> to give you an idea of the scale of that there</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:52"> are 1.5 million people in the 13</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:55"> colonies at that side so you can imagine the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:8:58">medium that you could have today that could have that level</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:1"> of coverage for an idea would be the internet</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:4"> today if you could get a significant</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:7"> number of people to read one thing on</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:10"> the internet and in that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:13"> argument that pain</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:16"> wrote there's a important</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:19"> line that's relevant to today where pain</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:22"> was basically the title of it</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:25"> was a joke because he was actually</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:28">expressing something it wasn't kind was common sense to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:31"> have a king and this pamphlet was an argument</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:34"> against the monarchy and in the middle of it he says</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:37"> well instead of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:40"> having the king be the law why we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:43"> can have the law be the king in other words we can</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:46"> invent a new way of governing ourselves and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:49"> organizing ourselves and we can write this into law and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:52"> that is how we can invert everything</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:55">that people thought to be true if we have the courage to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:9:58"> do it and as McLuhan</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:1">pointed out you can argue with a lot about a lot of things with</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:4"> stained glass windows but democracy is not one</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:7"> of them so the point here is that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:10"> democracy and what it actually meant</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:13"> particularly in our country was not possible</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:16"> without a new medium of expression</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:19"> for arguing in a very special way the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:22"> old oral ways and the old pictorial ways</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:25"> were not sufficient and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:28"> so one of the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:31"> dilemmas I think we've had in the 20th century is</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:34">that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:37"> the electronic technologies</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:40"> even the ones that are not programmable</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:43"> have this double edged sword this amplifier</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:46"> and prosthetic aspect and I think many people</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:49"> in this crowd will have noticed how many of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:52"> the new communications technologies of the last</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:55"> hundred years or so have actually been used by</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:10:58"> people as a way of getting back into the oral modes</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:1"> of thought that would be completely familiar to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:4"> cave people a hundred thousand years ago and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:7"> in fact many of the games we make electronically</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:10"> we would be completely familiar to cave people</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:13"> a hundred thousand years ago so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:16"> these electronic devices are</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:19"> being used partially as prosthetics as a way of avoiding</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:22"> the modes of thought associated with reading</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:25"> so one of the ways we can think about is when something that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:28"> can imitate anything comes along like</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:31"> a computer that well</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:34"> we could use it to go back to oral modes of thought</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:37"> we could use it to imitate the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:40"> technologies that we're familiar with like printing</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:43"> and movies and recordings or</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:46"> we could do something almost unthinkable which</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:49"> is to try and ask the same question that people a</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:52"> few people started asking the printing press which is let's</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:55"> not worry about the news about computers we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:11:58">understand the news about computers they can be programmed to do things</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:1"> they can be programmed to imitate things what's new</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:4"> about computers and I think the significance of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:7"> Doug Engelbart's work is that he</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:10"> is one of the very few people very</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:13"> very early on who are able to understand</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:16"> that as Taylor pointed</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:19"> out that computers could</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:22"> do a lot of things that were quite familiar</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:25"> but there was something new about computers that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:28">allow us to think in a very different way and likely</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:31"> in a stronger way than the printing press brought us</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:34"> and I believe the significance of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:37"> this demo that we're celebrating I was sitting</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:40">right over there right where that blonde headed</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:43"> woman was shivering like mad because I had</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:46"> 104 temperature doing this but I was determined</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:49"> to see this demo that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:52"> the significance of the demo was that it actually</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:55"> took something that was merely</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:12:58"> an opinion and opinions are cheap</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:1"> and easy and even good ideas are cheap and easy</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:4"> but because of the third component</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:7"> between visionary and funder we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:10"> also had Bill English and his team of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:13"> doers who are able to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:16"> take this set of ideas and reify</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:19"> it into something that was much much more</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:22"> understandable to everybody who's sitting there experiencing</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:25"> it we could actually see that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:28"> ideas can be organized in a different</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:31"> way they could be filtered in a different way that what we were</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:34"> looking at was not something that was trying to imitate printing</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:37"> and what we were hearing about was not</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:40"> something that was trying to automate</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:43"> current modes of thought but there was</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:46"> a strong set of ideas as christina</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:49"> has just talked about that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:52"> we should be able to improve our process and there</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:55"> is should be an amplification</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:13:58"> relationship between us and this new technology</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:1"> rather than one that is a prosthetic</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:4"> and a sapping one so i think i</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:7"> think the the jury is still out</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:10"> on whether in how long</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:13"> it's going to take for people to understand</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:16"> this when i got</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:19"> interested in this and in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:22"> no small part from from seeing doug</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:25"> Engelbart's nls system and from seeing</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:28"> ivan sutherland sketch pad system in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:31"> from reading McLuhan my thought</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:34"> was well thank goodness we understand</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:37"> how the printing press transformed human thought</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:40"> and will never wait a hundred and fifty</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:43"> years again and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:46"> in fact so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:49"> that was my thought back then of course I was just a 28</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:52"> year old graduate student with stars</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:55"> in his eyes about what this stuff</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:14:58"> could actually actually mean but</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:1"> in fact I believe news particularly</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:4"> for Americans is incredibly powerful compared</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:7"> to new I think</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:10"> of the strong</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:13"> nations in the world we are possibly the least well educated</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:16"> and because we're the lease well-educated we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:19">lack the perspective even of understanding</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:22"> what the printing press did do and even</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:25"> understanding how our country</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:28"> was set up because of this and how we were</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:31"> able to argue ourself into</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:34"> a better state of living so I think this</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:37"> is the this is the key and I think</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:40"> that the the questions about</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:43"> voting machines which I think</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:46"> are important questions but I believe</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:49"> that they are much less interesting than the humans</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:52"> who come to the machines and that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:55"> democracy cannot survive without taking</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:15:58"> much more heed of all the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:1"> stuff besides the mouse that Doug Engelbart understood</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:4"> we should work on and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:7"> the thing that's interesting about</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:10"> this is that no invented system</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:13"> of thought has been more successful in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:16"> science it's probably</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:19"> the greatest single invention of the human race and the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:22"> invention as we know it in its most effective</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:25"> form is only about four hundred years old and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:28"> what's</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:31"> interesting to me about science is</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:34"> how poorly it's taught in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:37"> most countries in the world especially ours</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:40"> and what this means is that this</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:43"> most successful thing that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:46"> has changed our lives tremendously not</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:49">because it was able to hook up with engineering</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:52"> in a powerful way but it changed our way of looking</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:55"> at things are very pissed</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:16:58"> Emma logical stances that we took towards knowledge</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:1"> in spite of all this success</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:4"> it's actually a backwater for the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:7"> vast majority of people and this is dangerous</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:10"> in a democracy where majorities count so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:13"> if you think about where we're actually going</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:16"> we are actually in this very</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:19"> dangerous area now where</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:22"> the power of our tools</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:25"> has completely outstripped the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:28"> pace at which education can absorb the ideas</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:31"> and to teach in the mass so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:34"> we haven't probably the widest</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:37"> sparus thinnest</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:40"> distribution of understanding of the various powers</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:43"> that have been created over the last several</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:46"> hundred years or certainly</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:49"> the ratio between power and understanding i think</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:52"> is at its worst right now this shouldn't</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:55"> be because of course we have the internet</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:17:58"> and there's</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:1"> a least a billion nodes on the internet and everybody</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:4"> has personal computers that was the dream of ARPA</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:7"> ARPA didn't care whether it was done</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:10"> on a time-sharing system in a cloud or</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:13"> on networked computers the whole idea</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:16">somehow it had to be connected and somehow everybody had</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:19"> to have their own personal access</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:22"> to this stuff whenever they wanted and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:25"> yet the commercial</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:28"> explosion of what</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:31">bunch of very good inventions that were done in the 60s</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:34"> and 70s has completely trumped</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:37"> almost all of the powerful ideas</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:40"> that that fostered these inventions back</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:43"> in the 60s and 70s and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:46"> when i get called on to give a talk i</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:49"> spent a fair amount of my time in the beginning</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:52"> of the talk explaining what Doug Engelbart</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:55"> and his group we're trying to do because the ideas</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:18:58"> are not only</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:1"> as good as they were back then in many ways they're better now</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:4"> than they were back then because now</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:7">e don't have to worry about naysayers about whether you can do the technology</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:10"> or not now it is clear what the problem</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:13"> is and the problem is us that we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:16">actually have gotten interested in whether the European princess</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:19"> is going to get a new hat and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:22"> we put that kind of interest on every</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:25">invented in the 20th and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:28"> now the 21st century so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:31"> if we want to make these</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:34"> ideas as significant as</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:37"> I think they are we have to do</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:40"> much more than celebrate a 40th</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:43"> anniversary we actually have to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:46"> be much more proactive and I</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:49"> believe that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:52"> the one of the biggest problems</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:55"> in this area even more generally than what computers</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:19:58"> are all about is if you go to almost any</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:1"> elementary school anywhere in the country the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:4"> chances that you'll find an adult mathematician</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:7"> scientist or computer scientist in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:10"> there helping a teacher help the kids understand</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:13">something that the teachers don't understand and the kids need</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:16"> to the chances of that are vanishingly small</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:19"> so the hell of it is</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:22"> that though we have resources</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:25"> in our professions</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:28"> somehow we find a way of not going into the schools</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:31">and then we complain the hell out of what the schools are actually</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:34"> doing and yet if you think about the lag of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:37"> doing official training the only way we can</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:40"> possibly make a difference is by taking our knowledge</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:43"> into the schools now we cannot</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:46"> wait for the education system to try</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:49"> and figure out what it was that we were doing 20 years ago we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:52"> have to go in and volunteer to help and I</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:55"> don't believe that any</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:20:58"> officially sanctioned</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:1"> large-scale attempt at reforming at American</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:4"> education which has been tried any number of times</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:7"> in my life time since Sputnik</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:10"> all of those have failed miserably because</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:13"> in the end it has</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:16">treated more like a dirty task in the end and the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:19"> scientists and mathematicians and computer scientists</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:22">tay out of the classrooms and somehow expect the teachers</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:25"> to learn things are almost impossible to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:28"> learn in the position that they're in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:31"> the last idea</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:34"> here is</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:37"> a</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:40"> kind of an idea from McLuhan</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:43"> but it's also something that we can notice about ourselves if</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:46"> we go to a foreign country and stay for more than a</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:49"> week and that is that after</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:52"> about a week we actually find ourselves acting</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:55"> like we live in this country because we're</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:21:58"> fitting into the rhythms and our brains are naturally set up</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:1"> to normalize to any environment if</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:4"> you think about what normalizing to an environment actually is</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:7"> it is</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:10"> somewhat like learning to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:13"> drive a car when you start off driving a</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:16"> car the there's</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:19"> a lot of stuff going on and it's very chaotic and what</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:22"> gear you in and how fast you're going where's the stop sign and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:25"> what's your parents saying to you and where's the kid</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:28">ball on the road it's all completely chaotic and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:31"> six or eight weeks later</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:34">there are little experts inside of our head they're automatically</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:37"> paying attention to these and that's good that's</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:40"> what happens when we normalize we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:43">normalize to the things that are expected in the environment by</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:46"> building little experts but the other</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:49"> edge of the sword is that normalization</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:52"> disappears what we just became in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:55"> order to get skilled and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:22:58"> McLuhan pointed out it doesn't matter really what you</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:1"> print in a book what matters is whether</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:4"> you have become a reader or not because that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:7"> has changed your whole approach to how</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:10">you're getting information doesn't really matter that much what is put</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:13"> on television in the first</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:16">matters is that you're watching it at all if</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:19"> you're watching it enough for it to become an environment</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:22"> then it's what's on television that starts creating</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:25"> what's normal for you it's a scary</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:28"> thought if you think about it that way and you should and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:31"> on the positive vein if you create</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:34"> an nls and get</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:37">at it and that was part of the idea in this system wasn't a</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:40"> system for beginners there's a system for experts people</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:43"> were going to spend hours at a computer now some</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:46"> people poo-pooed dug</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:49">in his group because they said well nobody's going to spend hours sitting</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:52"> in front of it a screen</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:55">but they knew differently</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:23:58"> they knew if you're going to spend hours sitting in</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:1">the front in front of a screen you might as well get expert at it you</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:4">noticed that their systems response time is just a little</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:7"> bit faster than you're used to today</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:10"> so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:13"> a picture on your screen just this size is 192</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:16"> k which is exactly the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:19"> size of the memory on the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:22"> sts 9 40 and it</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:25"> was about a half MIT computer</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:28"> so you can multiply that out by</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:31"> factors of millions and so</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:34">fact it doesn't matter because a bad design is a bad</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:37"> design and if you run a sufficiently bad design</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:40">sufficiently fast computer it's still going to be bad and slow</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:43"> that's what we've got</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:46"></subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:49"></subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:52"> so the flip side of this is if you get</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:55"> expert in something that is good this is the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:24:58"> whole aim and significance of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:1"> the augmentation of human</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:4"> intellect Center that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:7"> then that normalization is going to turn you</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:10"> into a different kind of thinker than you were before</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:13">going to turn you into a different kind of thinker than</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:16"> people were in the 18th century and that's it will</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:19">different kind of thinker than people were in the middle ages and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:22"> different kind of thinker than they were 100,000 years</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:25"> ago that's the whole idea that in order for these</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:28"> huge reforms in our</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:31"> process of getting at the world</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:34"> we have to get fluent in them and so no</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:37">f not getting fluent in science is going to help you</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:40"> because it is actually a way of thinking</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:43"> and so all of these things have to get beyond</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:46"> the air guitar stage or guitar hero</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:49"> stage in our culture and get into something</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:52"> that is much more like expert playing of a musical</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:55"> instrument and that is what nls felt to me</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:25:58"> when I first learned how</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:1"> to use it that here was the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:4"> phrase I made up was the computers and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:7"> is an instrument whose music is ideas this</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:10"> is the first embodiment of of</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:13"> what this incredible</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:16"> new idea became</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:19"> and I I never thought</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:22"> that I would actually live to this age and not</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:25"> see these ideas adopted and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:28"> now I can see maybe another hundred</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:31"> years might be required in and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:34"> here's the interesting thing it could be</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:37"> because of the computers ability to</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:40"> imitate television and things</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:43"> like television that it could be</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:46"> that the current media miliar</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:49"> that we have today could successfully</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:52"> hold off all competitors that have to do with deep</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:55"> ideas we could have made</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:26:58"> the pop most powerful medium ever for</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:1"> distracting ourselves to death and</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:4"> the shame of it</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:7">is that people understood all of this while this was going on</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:10"> and even a bunch of us who are doing it understood</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:13">while it was going on yet the general knowledge of this was</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:16"> not present in the environment when it burst on the scene</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:22">the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:25"> last idea I think this is the</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:28"> real tribute to today is reality is kind</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:31"> of a low-pass filter</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:34"> so the average good idea gets</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:37"> low pass down into a dial tone</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:40"> and as forgotten</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:43"> but we haven't forgotten nls</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:46"> after 40 years we haven't forgotten it</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:49"> and it's as vivid to us today</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:52"> as it was when we first saw we</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:55">forgotten the ideas behind it and perhaps</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:27:58"> the real significance of nls is that</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:28:1"> it put an idea into the world</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:28:4"> that is a difficult one but it put it into the world</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:28:7"> so well that it's an idea none of us can</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:28:10"> forget and every one of us after</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:28:13"> this meeting will go out and try to get other people</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:28:16"> to understand that idea thank</subtitle> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <subtitle id="0:28:25">you</subtitle> |
Latest revision as of 01:16, 6 December 2017
introduction he's widely known as the inventor of the small talk
so our last speaker today is Alan
who's president of viewpoints Research Institute he
really needs no introduction he's widely known as the
inventor of the small talk programming language among many
other things like Doug he was inspired to persuade
computers to become our assistance and intelligent tasks
especially teaching and learning his Holy
Grail was the dynabook a portable personal computer nestled
in the lap of a young student in a park who is casually
pursuing her own Learning Path Alan
has 30 minutes Alan
so
they asked me to speak last and
with a lineup of people
that were on the program I figure it would be suicide
to try and prepare a talk ahead of time
because why I
figured with great luck all
the points I would have talked about will they have been covered
already and so the very
first thing I wrote in my notebook here
was thank you all for coming
but the idea
was to perhaps look at
a couple of things from a slightly different angle and
talk
a little bit about the significance of
this marvelous work we're celebrating
today and these marvelous people
who did it I like to
think of things
in terms of threes and we
are very rightly celebrating Doug Engelbart but
it was fantastic to have Bob Taylor
here who is the funder and
if you think about the rewards and awards
people get later in life doug has
gotten all the ones you can get but
there's nothing like a funder because a funder
is giving you that gold medal ahead of time on
spec
and moreover they
know that two-thirds of those gold
medals if they're lucky are going to turn to lead before
the end of the work and so
it's the faith of the second group of people
who bob was
characteristically subtle
about expressing his
opinion about how funding is today I
remember him once I
guess 15 or 20 years ago giving
a talk about
the 60s in the in the 70s
and somebody in the audience accused him of being an
old fogey again because old fogies
always are referring back to a golden
age and today is never as good as
it wasn't Taylor thought for a few minutes and he
looked up and he said damn it it was a golden
age
thorough I
have a hard time pronouncing it the way you're supposed
to be out in the world because I come from Massachusetts
and Thoreau was pronounced thorough there
so my my tongue is wagging
back and forth here's an interesting guy and
very late in his life
in 1865
when the first transatlantic cable
went in between our country and England
he was asked what he thought of it and
he said he was afraid he would find
out that a European princess had just gotten a
nd I
believe that is the one of the earliest
examples of completely nailing
the two sides of
Technology here's one of the most difficult feats they
fail this of course could be used
for expressing really important
information back and forth but throw understood
exactly who human beings are and
what they're likely to do with any good
idea another
great line of his Express a little earlier was
that we become the tools of our tools and
McLuhan used this idea many
years later when he said we first
shaped tools and then they turn around and reshape us
and all
of these ideas are basically double-edged swords
so that every technology
is usually done to amplify something in
every amplifier we make and also act as a
prosthetic if you put a prosthetic on
a healthy limb it starts to wither and so
there's this interesting problem of when
I make something that is supposed to augment
us how can I help people avoid
using it to replace something
that we already have and we wind up with less I believe
this is the fundamental problem of the
20th century and especially of our age
now one of ways I think
of it is that when ever
a new idea an idea comes along
there's news and there's new
so news is
stuff that's incremental on what we already know
news can be told in just a couple
of minutes it's the kind of thing that people are always
exchanging with each other and they often mistake
news for ideas but
in fact news is so simple that it
leverages almost everything we know and it's just pushing things
one way or another and so when Gutenberg
did his Bible
it
was treated enthusiastically as
news and in fact
they made the bible's to look as much like handwritten
manuscripts as possible i'm sure many people
here have seen a Gutenberg Bible but they were illuminated
by hand after they were printed
and the fonts the Gutenberg used
were had
I think 100 250 three separate characters
because every ligature every
abbreviation that people are used
to reading from them from the scribes Gutenberg
copied and used
the best ink in the best paper and
of these Gutenberg Bibles look like they were printed yesterday
and they were treated as a
really great idea and also
unremarkable and so in fact
the Catholic Church which was
in power at that time thought
the printing press was a good idea also
but
also when an idea comes along if the
idea is a good one there's also new and
new is something
that doesn't isn't explainable in what
you already know and so it's
something that people very often
find a way of
ignoring in favor of the news part of
things what was knew about the printing press we saw in
the 17th century when our entire
conception of thought changed
with the invention of science and our entire
conception of government changed
with the invention of representative democracies
of various kinds and this is the
two paired together or not and what not an accident
a favorite
phrase of mine from Tom Paine's Common Sense
which is written in
January 1776 and
before the
Declaration of Independence was pinned
and put out in July in
those six months or so somewhere
hundred thousand and nine hundred thousand
copies of common sense were printed and distributed
throughout the thirteen colonies and
to give you an idea of the scale of that there
are 1.5 million people in the 13
colonies at that side so you can imagine the
medium that you could have today that could have that level
of coverage for an idea would be the internet
today if you could get a significant
number of people to read one thing on
the internet and in that
argument that pain
wrote there's a important
line that's relevant to today where pain
was basically the title of it
was a joke because he was actually
expressing something it wasn't kind was common sense to
have a king and this pamphlet was an argument
against the monarchy and in the middle of it he says
well instead of
having the king be the law why we
can have the law be the king in other words we can
invent a new way of governing ourselves and
organizing ourselves and we can write this into law and
that is how we can invert everything
that people thought to be true if we have the courage to
do it and as McLuhan
pointed out you can argue with a lot about a lot of things with
stained glass windows but democracy is not one
of them so the point here is that
democracy and what it actually meant
particularly in our country was not possible
without a new medium of expression
for arguing in a very special way the
old oral ways and the old pictorial ways
were not sufficient and
so one of the
dilemmas I think we've had in the 20th century is
that
the electronic technologies
even the ones that are not programmable
have this double edged sword this amplifier
and prosthetic aspect and I think many people
in this crowd will have noticed how many of
the new communications technologies of the last
hundred years or so have actually been used by
people as a way of getting back into the oral modes
of thought that would be completely familiar to
cave people a hundred thousand years ago and
in fact many of the games we make electronically
we would be completely familiar to cave people
a hundred thousand years ago so
these electronic devices are
being used partially as prosthetics as a way of avoiding
the modes of thought associated with reading
so one of the ways we can think about is when something that
can imitate anything comes along like
a computer that well
we could use it to go back to oral modes of thought
we could use it to imitate the
technologies that we're familiar with like printing
and movies and recordings or
we could do something almost unthinkable which
is to try and ask the same question that people a
few people started asking the printing press which is let's
not worry about the news about computers we
understand the news about computers they can be programmed to do things
they can be programmed to imitate things what's new
about computers and I think the significance of
Doug Engelbart's work is that he
is one of the very few people very
very early on who are able to understand
that as Taylor pointed
out that computers could
do a lot of things that were quite familiar
but there was something new about computers that
allow us to think in a very different way and likely
in a stronger way than the printing press brought us
and I believe the significance of
this demo that we're celebrating I was sitting
right over there right where that blonde headed
woman was shivering like mad because I had
104 temperature doing this but I was determined
to see this demo that
the significance of the demo was that it actually
took something that was merely
an opinion and opinions are cheap
and easy and even good ideas are cheap and easy
but because of the third component
between visionary and funder we
also had Bill English and his team of
doers who are able to
take this set of ideas and reify
it into something that was much much more
understandable to everybody who's sitting there experiencing
it we could actually see that
ideas can be organized in a different
way they could be filtered in a different way that what we were
looking at was not something that was trying to imitate printing
and what we were hearing about was not
something that was trying to automate
current modes of thought but there was
a strong set of ideas as christina
has just talked about that
we should be able to improve our process and there
is should be an amplification
relationship between us and this new technology
rather than one that is a prosthetic
and a sapping one so i think i
think the the jury is still out
on whether in how long
it's going to take for people to understand
this when i got
interested in this and in
no small part from from seeing doug
Engelbart's nls system and from seeing
ivan sutherland sketch pad system in
from reading McLuhan my thought
was well thank goodness we understand
how the printing press transformed human thought
and will never wait a hundred and fifty
years again and
in fact so
that was my thought back then of course I was just a 28
year old graduate student with stars
in his eyes about what this stuff
could actually actually mean but
in fact I believe news particularly
for Americans is incredibly powerful compared
to new I think
of the strong
nations in the world we are possibly the least well educated
and because we're the lease well-educated we
lack the perspective even of understanding
what the printing press did do and even
understanding how our country
was set up because of this and how we were
able to argue ourself into
a better state of living so I think this
is the this is the key and I think
that the the questions about
voting machines which I think
are important questions but I believe
that they are much less interesting than the humans
who come to the machines and that
democracy cannot survive without taking
much more heed of all the
stuff besides the mouse that Doug Engelbart understood
we should work on and
the thing that's interesting about
this is that no invented system
of thought has been more successful in
science it's probably
the greatest single invention of the human race and the
invention as we know it in its most effective
form is only about four hundred years old and
what's
interesting to me about science is
how poorly it's taught in
most countries in the world especially ours
and what this means is that this
most successful thing that
has changed our lives tremendously not
because it was able to hook up with engineering
in a powerful way but it changed our way of looking
at things are very pissed
Emma logical stances that we took towards knowledge
in spite of all this success
it's actually a backwater for the
vast majority of people and this is dangerous
in a democracy where majorities count so
if you think about where we're actually going
we are actually in this very
dangerous area now where
the power of our tools
has completely outstripped the
pace at which education can absorb the ideas
and to teach in the mass so
we haven't probably the widest
sparus thinnest
distribution of understanding of the various powers
that have been created over the last several
hundred years or certainly
the ratio between power and understanding i think
is at its worst right now this shouldn't
be because of course we have the internet
and there's
a least a billion nodes on the internet and everybody
has personal computers that was the dream of ARPA
ARPA didn't care whether it was done
on a time-sharing system in a cloud or
on networked computers the whole idea
somehow it had to be connected and somehow everybody had
to have their own personal access
to this stuff whenever they wanted and
yet the commercial
explosion of what
bunch of very good inventions that were done in the 60s
and 70s has completely trumped
almost all of the powerful ideas
that that fostered these inventions back
in the 60s and 70s and
when i get called on to give a talk i
spent a fair amount of my time in the beginning
of the talk explaining what Doug Engelbart
and his group we're trying to do because the ideas
are not only
as good as they were back then in many ways they're better now
than they were back then because now
e don't have to worry about naysayers about whether you can do the technology
or not now it is clear what the problem
is and the problem is us that we
actually have gotten interested in whether the European princess
is going to get a new hat and
we put that kind of interest on every
invented in the 20th and
now the 21st century so
if we want to make these
ideas as significant as
I think they are we have to do
much more than celebrate a 40th
anniversary we actually have to
be much more proactive and I
believe that
the one of the biggest problems
in this area even more generally than what computers
are all about is if you go to almost any
elementary school anywhere in the country the
chances that you'll find an adult mathematician
scientist or computer scientist in
there helping a teacher help the kids understand
something that the teachers don't understand and the kids need
to the chances of that are vanishingly small
so the hell of it is
that though we have resources
in our professions
somehow we find a way of not going into the schools
and then we complain the hell out of what the schools are actually
doing and yet if you think about the lag of
doing official training the only way we can
possibly make a difference is by taking our knowledge
into the schools now we cannot
wait for the education system to try
and figure out what it was that we were doing 20 years ago we
have to go in and volunteer to help and I
don't believe that any
officially sanctioned
large-scale attempt at reforming at American
education which has been tried any number of times
in my life time since Sputnik
all of those have failed miserably because
in the end it has
treated more like a dirty task in the end and the
scientists and mathematicians and computer scientists
tay out of the classrooms and somehow expect the teachers
to learn things are almost impossible to
learn in the position that they're in
the last idea
here is
a
kind of an idea from McLuhan
but it's also something that we can notice about ourselves if
we go to a foreign country and stay for more than a
week and that is that after
about a week we actually find ourselves acting
like we live in this country because we're
fitting into the rhythms and our brains are naturally set up
to normalize to any environment if
you think about what normalizing to an environment actually is
it is
somewhat like learning to
drive a car when you start off driving a
car the there's
a lot of stuff going on and it's very chaotic and what
gear you in and how fast you're going where's the stop sign and
what's your parents saying to you and where's the kid
ball on the road it's all completely chaotic and
six or eight weeks later
there are little experts inside of our head they're automatically
paying attention to these and that's good that's
what happens when we normalize we
normalize to the things that are expected in the environment by
building little experts but the other
edge of the sword is that normalization
disappears what we just became in
order to get skilled and
McLuhan pointed out it doesn't matter really what you
print in a book what matters is whether
you have become a reader or not because that
has changed your whole approach to how
you're getting information doesn't really matter that much what is put
on television in the first
matters is that you're watching it at all if
you're watching it enough for it to become an environment
then it's what's on television that starts creating
what's normal for you it's a scary
thought if you think about it that way and you should and
on the positive vein if you create
an nls and get
at it and that was part of the idea in this system wasn't a
system for beginners there's a system for experts people
were going to spend hours at a computer now some
people poo-pooed dug
in his group because they said well nobody's going to spend hours sitting
in front of it a screen
but they knew differently
they knew if you're going to spend hours sitting in
the front in front of a screen you might as well get expert at it you
noticed that their systems response time is just a little
bit faster than you're used to today
so
a picture on your screen just this size is 192
k which is exactly the
size of the memory on the
sts 9 40 and it
was about a half MIT computer
so you can multiply that out by
factors of millions and so
fact it doesn't matter because a bad design is a bad
design and if you run a sufficiently bad design
sufficiently fast computer it's still going to be bad and slow
that's what we've got
so the flip side of this is if you get
expert in something that is good this is the
whole aim and significance of
the augmentation of human
intellect Center that
then that normalization is going to turn you
into a different kind of thinker than you were before
going to turn you into a different kind of thinker than
people were in the 18th century and that's it will
different kind of thinker than people were in the middle ages and
different kind of thinker than they were 100,000 years
ago that's the whole idea that in order for these
huge reforms in our
process of getting at the world
we have to get fluent in them and so no
f not getting fluent in science is going to help you
because it is actually a way of thinking
and so all of these things have to get beyond
the air guitar stage or guitar hero
stage in our culture and get into something
that is much more like expert playing of a musical
instrument and that is what nls felt to me
when I first learned how
to use it that here was the
phrase I made up was the computers and
is an instrument whose music is ideas this
is the first embodiment of of
what this incredible
new idea became
and I I never thought
that I would actually live to this age and not
see these ideas adopted and
now I can see maybe another hundred
years might be required in and
here's the interesting thing it could be
because of the computers ability to
imitate television and things
like television that it could be
that the current media miliar
that we have today could successfully
hold off all competitors that have to do with deep
ideas we could have made
the pop most powerful medium ever for
distracting ourselves to death and
the shame of it
is that people understood all of this while this was going on
and even a bunch of us who are doing it understood
while it was going on yet the general knowledge of this was
not present in the environment when it burst on the scene
the
last idea I think this is the
real tribute to today is reality is kind
of a low-pass filter
so the average good idea gets
low pass down into a dial tone
and as forgotten
but we haven't forgotten nls
after 40 years we haven't forgotten it
and it's as vivid to us today
as it was when we first saw we
forgotten the ideas behind it and perhaps
the real significance of nls is that
it put an idea into the world
that is a difficult one but it put it into the world
so well that it's an idea none of us can
forget and every one of us after
this meeting will go out and try to get other people
to understand that idea thank
you