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Full Description
The story of the man who instigated the work that led to the internet—and shifted our understanding of what computers could be.
Behind every great revolution is a vision, and behind perhaps the greatest revolution of our time is the vision of J.C.R. Licklider. He did not design the first personal computers or write the software that ran on them, nor was he involved in the legendary early companies that brought them to the forefront of our everyday experience. He was instead a relentless visionary who saw the potential in the way that individuals could interact with computers and software.
At a time when computers were a short step removed from mechanical data processors, Licklider was writing treatises on "human-computer symbiosis," "computers as communication devices," and a now not-so-unfamiliar "Intergalactic Network." His ideas became so influential, his passion so contagious, that author M. Mitchell Waldrop calls him "computing's Johnny Appleseed."
In a simultaneously compelling personal narrative and comprehensive historical exposition, Waldrop tells the story of the man who not only instigated the work that led to the internet, but also shifted our understanding of what computers were and could be.
This Stripe Press edition also includes the original texts of Licklider's three most influential writings: "Man-Computer Symbiosis" (1960), which outlines the vision that led to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s; his "Intergalactic Network" memo (1963), which outlines the vision that inspired the internet; and "The Computer as a Communication Device" (1968, coauthored with Robert Taylor), which amplifies his vision for what the network could become.
Contents
Prologue: Tracy's dad
Chapter 1: Missouri boys
Chapter 2: The last transition
Chapter 3: New kinds of people
Chapter 4: The freedom to make mistakes
Chapter 5: The tale of the fig tree and the wasp
Chapter 6: The phenomena surrounding computers
Chapter 7: The intergalactic network
Chapter 8: Living in the future
Chapter 9: Lick's kids
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Addendum
