Douglas Engelbart - Inventing the 21st Century
In this Podcast, “we look back to the man who wanted to augment human intelligence to help us work together to solve the world's most complex problems, and in doing so invented the 21st Century. How do we get smart enough to solve the really difficult problems? Douglas Engelbart said "the better we get at getting better, the faster we will get better" where our problem-solving abilities are constantly improved, and therefore so is everything we do!"
See also Avail Formats | Show Notes
Extended Mind interview with Donald Clark
Extended Mind interview with Donald Clark
“In this episode of Great Minds on Learning, John Helmer interviews Donald Clark exploring The Extended Mind. Where do our thoughts live? And if, as some theorists contend, they do not observe physical limitations, but extends to our technology tools and physical surroundings, what are the implications for learning?” Includes Great Mind Doug Engelbart's vision on collective intelligence.
See also: Episode Notes | Detail: Learning Theorists | Detail: Engelbart on Collective IQ
Engelbart: Collective intelligence and IQ
Engelbart: Collective intelligence and IQ
“He also put forward an early and full vision of collective intelligence and the idea of collective IQ. He envisioned much of this before the advent of the internet but foresaw the importance of networked knowledge and the networked organisation.”
See Also: Extended Minds Interview | Post this is Part Of
Collective IQ and Continuous Improvement
Collective IQ and Continuous Improvement
“How do you harness the collective intelligence of a group, solve difficult problems, and share what you learn?”
An excellent distillation and synthesis of Doug Engelbart's driving vision for navigating accelerating change. See companion article Improvement communities
How Humans Think When They Think As Part of a Group
How Humans Think When They Think As Part of a Group
“The fancy word for it is "entitativity," and it’s produced when people act and feel together in close proximity. We need it more, but we’re getting it less.” Not an Engelbart article, but it's right up our alley.
How to Think Outside Your Brain
How to Think Outside Your Brain
“Our culture insists that the brain is the sole locus of thinking. Ms. Paul challenges us to rethink what we think about thinking. Our bodies, our social networks and our surroundings, she argues, are “extra-neural” inputs that have a profound influence on cognition."
This article is a prelude to her new book The Extended Mind. Her work aligns brilliantly with Doug Engelbart's concepts of augmented intellect and collective IQ.
Related Articles Appearing In: Washington Post | Author's Website
The Extended Mind
The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain
“A bold new book reveals how we can tap the intelligence that exists beyond our brains—in our bodies, our surroundings, and our relationships.”
Although this book does not include or reference Doug Engelbart's work, it is quite relevant.
Keynote: Culture of Innovation at ARPA & Xerox PARC
Culture of Innovation at ARPA & Xerox PARC
“Keynote Speaker Alan Kay presents key lessons learned from the culture within the ARPA community and Xerox PARC that fostered so many technological breakthroughs, in such a short period of time.” Includes learnings from Doug Engelbart's Augmenting Human Intellect Research Center. Stories that inform future cosmic scale innovators.
Video Contents: 0:01 Introductions | 04:29 Enter Alan Kay | 22:46 Discussing Engelbart |
See also Related Essay: "How?" | Event Site
Revisiting Engelbart’s ‘Collective IQ’ in the Era of AI
Revisiting Engelbart’s ‘Collective IQ’ in the Era of AI
“This PC pioneer believed technology was a tool to augment human intelligence — not replace it”
How? – When “what will it take?” seems beyond possible
How? - When “what will it take?” seems beyond possible
“When “what will it take?” seems beyond possible, we need to study how *Immense Challenges* have been successfully dealt with in the past. [...] Need higher levels of qualitatively different thinking than the thinking that caused the challenges, including how to set up and nourish the communities of top people [pursuing the solutions]." *Immense Challenges* call for cosmic vision and collective synergy.
This essay written for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Summit to accompany Alan's session VIDEO: Scale Up the Circular Economy - with Alan Kay
“What Would Doug Engelbart Do?” Ask Organizers of a Silicon Valley Event
"What Would Doug Engelbart Do?" Ask Organizers of a Silicon Valley Event
“Inspired by the man who showed the way to modern computing, tech-minded experts shared ideas for how to tackle climate change, nuclear proliferation, and broken political systems.”
Doug Engelbart: More Than the Inventor of the Mouse
Doug Engelbart: More Than the Inventor of the Mouse
The system he demonstrated, NLS, "was the first operational hypertext system. Even so, NLS itself was merely a tool to manifest the grander concepts that would provide us with the ability to raise what Doug termed the “collective IQ.” He was simply building the minimal infrastructure that was necessary to realize his vision.”
Reflections on our future
Reflections on our future
This article commemorates Doug's remarks from the Oct 1996 ASIS Conference on global complexity: information, chaos and control, where ASIS honored Doug with a Special Achievement Award. “We at the Bootstrap Institute say the world has one category of people who are operating and another category of activity that's improving the capability to do that work. So we called the first part the “A” activity and the next part the “B.” The “B” is that which is busy trying to improve how capable you can be at “A.” Because we have significantly more challenges coming, we must get a more effective “B” going to cope with that change. To improve the capability for doing “B,” you obviously have to add a “C” to improve your capability to improve...”
Douglas Engelbart’s Unfinished Revolution
Douglas Engelbart’s Unfinished Revolution
“Engelbart’s ideas revolutionized computing and helped shape the modern world. [...] To Engelbart, computers, interfaces, and networks were means to a more important end—amplifying human intelligence to help us survive in the world we’ve created.”
Doug Engelbart’s Design for High Performance Innovative Organizations
Doug Engelbart's Design for High Performance Innovative Organizations
Change Your Organization's Nervous System - “I have been a fan and follower of Doug Engelbart since I first discovered his work in the early 1970s. After his death in 2013, I revisited a videotaped interview I did with Doug in November of 1991 [in which Doug described] much of his seminal thinking about how to design high performance organizations. [...] In this article, I summarize a few of the high points from that interview.”
Bootstrapping Innovation: Leveraging Collective IQ to Achieve Powerful Results
Bootstrapping Innovation: Leveraging the Collective IQ to Achieve Powerful Results
“At our Spring 2010 Visionaries meeting, Christina Engelbart, executive director of the Doug Engelbart Institute and heir apparent to the visionary thinking of her father, Doug Engelbart, presented the concepts and action model for Bootstrapping Innovation”
Celebrating Doug Engelbart’s Influence on Society & Computing
Celebrating Doug Engelbart's Influence on Society & Computing
“I'll be attending the 40th anniversary celebration at Stanford University hosted by SRI on December 9th. Tweet or email me if you want to meet up. There are (at least) two events. One is the celebration itself. The second is the Program for the Future Summit and Workshop on Collective Intelligence at the Tech Museum of Innovation at San Jose (December 8-9).”
See the Event Website
BOOK: Holistic Management: Managing What Matters for Company Success
Holistic Management: Managing What Matters for Company Success
“This book teaches us how to increase the company's greatest asset, the organization's intellectual capability, it's 'Collective IQ.' [...] Douglas Engelbart, the patron saint of the computer industry, advocates continuously increasing "collective IQ" to expand the company's "capability infrastructure." [...] offers a structure and direction of work that can increase collective IQ.”
See Also: Book Overview | TOC | Chapter Summary
Collective IQ & Human Augmentation
Collective IQ & Human Augmentation - with Doug Engelbart
“In this podcast, learn how one man's lifelong passion to create a meaningful legacy of work that could benefit all mankind – the means by which we can harness our Collective Intelligence and Human Augmentation.”
Find it Here: Podcast | Description
Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want
Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want
“As CEO of SRI International, Carlson consulted with hundreds of organizations on becoming more effective and profitable. He has distilled that experience into a thorough treatise on the innovation process. The book cites dozens of examples of innovative ideas brought to fruition by innovators from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs. "Innovation is not about inventing clever gadgets or just “creativity.” It is the successful creation and delivery of a new or improved product or service that provides value for your customer and sustained profit for your organization." You'll find Doug Engelbart under Exponential Improvement, including Collective IQ and Networked Improvement Communities (NICs), on pages 114, 134, 169-179, 181-182, 189-190.
Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problem
Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problem
“The first full-length book to bring dialogue mapping to a wider audience, Dialogue Mapping provides an exciting new conceptual framework that will change the way readers view projects and project management ... When an organization is confronting a wicked problem the familiar approaches don't work. [...] Dialogue mapping is a proven technique for building that shared understanding and commitment, as efficiently and effectively as possible.” In Engelbart parlance, dialog mapping is a proven practice for leveraging the collective IQ of your team in tackling complex, urgent challenges.
A man, a mouse, a mission
A man, a mouse, a mission
“"Point-and-click pioneer Doug Engelbart is still going full-tilt trying to figure out ways to solve complex problems facing the world... If the name Douglas C. Engelbart ever comes up on TV's Jeopardy game show, the question doubtless will have been: 'Who invented the computer mouse?' In fact, that's hardly Engelbart's only claim... Ask Engelbart, and he says his life's work is about an even more audacious goal: trying to figure out ways to help the human race solve its increasingly complex problems...”
KMi meets with Doug Engelbart’s Pioneering Vision
KMi meets with Doug Engelbart's Pioneering Vision
“It became clear to all of us that these were prime examples of what Engelbart had long envisioned as Dynamic Knowledge Repositories, supporting the mediation and capture of dialogue, the collective updating by a distributed community of its knowledge, and the provision of advanced services that generate knowledge 'products' - flexible views onto the underlying knowledge repository.”
Silicon Valley, Innovation, and the History of Modern Computing: A Conversation Among Doug Engelbart, Gordon Moore, and Regis McKenna
Silicon Valley, Innovation, and the History of Modern Computing: A Conversation Among Doug Engelbart, Gordon Moore, and Regis McKenna
Paul Ceruzzi of the Smithsonian Institution moderated this stellar panel. "A stimulating conversation among three of the “founding fathers” of Silicon Valley produced different views on why Silicon Valley is so unique. [...] Doug Engelbart began the forum with a brief account of how he made the kind of commitment that
Mike Malone described. [...] He saw that increasingly the problems of the world were the result of a human inability to deal with complexity. [...] Engelbart’s vision is for self-enhancing, knowledge-based systems that can be used to accelerate learning, problem-solving, and the development of new ways of organizing information and people to solve complex and urgent problems.”
This Article also available in PDF format
Nexus Issue 2.2: TOC for this Issue | About STS Nexus
Inventors discuss their sources of inspiration
Inventors discuss their sources of inspiration
Featuring a panel discussion of five inventors whose dreams transformed computing, medicine and consumer products -- Douglas Englebart, Brian Hubert, Raymond Kurzweil, Robert Langer, and Steve Wozniak -- the event celebrates the publication of Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse (MIT Press). 'Invention in technology is a form of magic,' said Kurzweil, 'in seeing the leap from a dry formula to an impact on people's lives.' Engelbart recommended that next generation inventors nurture collectively their 'dreams about how much people can improve. The mouse was just a windshield wiper. There are urgent big problems that have to be dealt with collectively.'”
Watch the Panel Discussion | Browse Book Review
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