Pearls of Computation: Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider Man Computer Symbiosis on the Intergalactic Computer Network hannes@ru.is
Biography 1915 Born in St. Louis 1937 BS in Physics, Mathematics and Psychology, Washington University 1938 MA in Psychology, Washington University 1942 PhD in Psychoacoustics, University of Rochester 1942 Research Fellow in Psycho Acoustics Lab, Harvard 1950 Associate Professor at Harvard 1957 Bolt Beranek and Newmann (BBN) Architectural Acoustics Design Firm Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider
Man with a Machine (PDP 1 at BBN) http://www.visionnet.nl
Biography 1915 Born in St. Louis 1937 BS in Physics, Mathematics and Psychology, Washington University 1938 MA in Psychology, Washington University 1942 PhD in Psychoacoustics, University of Rochester 1942 Research Fellow in Psycho Acoustics Lab, Harvard 1950 Associate Professor at Harvard 1957 Bolt Beranek and Newmann (BBN) Architectural Acoustics Design Firm 1962 Head of Behavioral Sciences and Command and Control at ARPA Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider
1957 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 Sputnik 1 Telstar Satellite TV Protests Iceland SAGE Engelbarts Mouse Demo Experiment CFP ARPANET: UCLA SRI
1957 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 Sputnik 1 Telstar Satellite TV Protests Iceland SAGE Redirected funding from companies to universities (reinforced "iron triangle") Engelbarts Mouse Demo His involvement led to Ph.D. programs in MIT, Berkeley, CMU and Stanford Directed ARPA funding to projects of broad benefit rather than exclusively military Formulated the Internet vision Experiment CFP ARPANET: UCLA SRI
Man Computer Symbiosis 1960
from http://www.naturalezacuriosa.com Symbiosis Fig Tree Blastophaga Psenes
Man Computer Symbiosis The hope is that, in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together No. 250, Li I (detail) H.R. Giger, Zurich.
What is NOT human machine symbiosis Different from mechanically extended man. "The man machine systems of the past, the human operator supplied the initiative, the direction, the integration, and the criterion. mere extensions there was only one kind of organism man and the rest was there only to help him." Different from mechanical replacement of man. "The automated systems of the future where human operators are responsible mainly for functions that it proved infeasible to automate. Started out to be fully automatic but fell short of the goal. ['human extended machines']"
The Symbiosis Era 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 EXTEND SYMBIOSIS AI [it has been estimated that] it will be 1980 before developments in artificial intelligence make it possible for machines alone to do much thinking or problem solving of military significance. That would leave, say, five years to develop mancomputer symbiosis and 15 years to use it. The 15 may be 10 or 500, but those years should be intellectually the most creative and exciting in the history of mankind.
Aims of Man Computer Symbiosis If the user can think his problem through in advance, symbiotic association with a computing machine is not necessary.
Aims of Man Computer Symbiosis The aims are: "Bring the computing machine effectively into the formulative parts of technical problems (what is the question? Trial and error procedure)" "Bring computing machines effectively into processes of thinking that must go in 'real time', time that moves too fast to permit using computers in conventional ways." formulate program run analyze simulate too long
What is Technical Thinking? My thinking time was devoted mainly to activities that were essentially clerical or mechanical: searching, calculating, plotting, transforming, determining the logical or dynamic consequences of a set of assumptions or hypotheses, preparing the way for a decision or an insight. my choices of what to attempt and what not to attempt were determined to an embarrassingly great extent by considerations of clerical feasibility, not intellectual capability. biographylicklider.files.wordpress.com
Prerequisites (A E) (A) Speed Mismatch Between Men and Computers Computers too fast and costly Must serve many humans Networked "thinking centers" (B) Memory Hardware Requirements Need compact and cheap memory along with other types of memory. Use memory efficiently (still need books!)
Prerequisites (A E) (C ) Memory Organization Requirements Retrievable by name and pattern through procedure much faster than serial search. E.g. using trie (originated by Edward Fredkin) Bring computer storage into resonance with human operators and their predilection to designate things by naming or pointing. "Trie example" by Booyabazooka (based on PNG image by Deco). Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Prerequisites (A E) (D) The Language Problem Some programming languages closer to human form and humans surprisingly flexible at adopting standard representation. "But these are still instructions directed to computers to specify courses while instructions directed to human beings specify goals."
Prerequisites (A E) (E) Input and Output Equipment "Recent advances in displays remarkable but not approaching flexibility and convenience of pencil and doodle pad or chalk and blackboard" We need: Desk Surface Display and Control Computer Posted Wall Display Automatic Speech Production and Recognition (bosses don t have time to learn typing!) (5 years until practical)
The Computer as a Communication Device 1968
Super Human Communication In a few years, men will be able to communicate more effectively through a machine than face to face. In two days, the group accomplished with the aid of a computer what normally might have taken a week
Creative Communication Do two tape recorders communicate when they play to each other and record from each other? We want to emphasize something beyond its one way transfer: the increasing significance of the jointly constructive, the mutually reinforcing aspect of communication. When minds interact, new ideas emerge. We want to talk about the creative aspect of communication.
Models in Communication "A model is a conceptual structure of abstractions formulated initially in the mind of one person. Society rightly distrusts the modeling done by a single mind. Therefore we require communication 'cooperative modelling' During face to face communication, we externalize our models. Perhaps two way telecommunication falls short of face to face because it fails to provide facilities for externalizing models."
Revolutionary Medium: Digital Computer Creative, interactive communication requires a plastic or moldable medium that can be modeled, a dynamic medium in which premises will flow into consequences, and above all a common medium that can be contributed to and experimented with by all. Such a medium is at hand the programmed digital computer. Its presence can change the nature and value of communication even more profoundly than did the printing press and the picture tube, for, as we shall show, a well programmed computer can provide direct access both to information resources and to the processes for making use of the resources.
Computer Supported Meeting Doug Engelbart at SRI augmented a project review meeting with computer displays connected to keyboard and mice. Data could be shared, but also programs. Stanford Research Institute
Not Just Data "Computer programs are very important because the transcend mere 'data' they include procedures and processes for structuring and manipulating data."
Close Intellectual Partnership Not always good to bring individual problem solvers into a face to face team not enough top positions! But their ideas need to come into contact with another. Not through voice telecommunication, but through an interactive community on a network of multiaccess computers. A few already exist socio technical pioneers ahead of the rest in the computer world. Lets interconnect them into a supercommunity! Make response time short and conversation free and easy (same for networked and single user computers)
Message Processing Each node is connected to a message processor computer that connects to other message processors. Through the network of message processors, all the large computers can communicate with each other. A message is a sequence of bits flowing through the network, consisting of two types of information: control and data. Person at one node will have access to programs running at other nodes, even of those are different kinds of machines. We already showed the linking of AN/FSQ 32 and TX 2
Happy On Line Community What will on line interactive communities be like? Not communities of common location, but of common interest. Life will be happier! 1. Because people interact with those selected by interest and goals rather than accidents of proximity 2. More effective and productive 3. Utilizing power of programs and programmed models 4. Plenty of opportunity for everyone For the society, the impact will be good or bad, depending mainly on the question: Will to be online be a privilege or a right? biographylicklider.files.wordpress.com
Bibliography J. C. R. Licklider (1960), Man Computer Symbiosis, IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, HFE 1:4 11. J. C. R. Licklider (1963), Memorandum For Members and Affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network, ARPA, 1963, Published on KurzweilAI.net December 11, 2001. J. C. R. Licklider and R. W. Taylor, (1968) The Computer as a Communication Device, Science and Technology, April 1968 N. Wardrip Fruin and N. Montfort (2003), The New Media Reader, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA C. Engelbart, and William K. English, A research center for augmenting human intellect, AFIPS Conference Proceedings of the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference, San Francisco, CA, December 1968, Vol. 33, pp. 395 410