Holy cow, what an essay to get through.
So the computer is a tool for augmenting intelligence. A tool for solving problems quickly. A tool that could solve all of our problems for us. I’m not sure if Engelbart could guess how much we would come to rely on these tools that can indeed solve our most complex problems. Of course, “The power of the human intellect is really much the more important of the two.” A computer can only be as smart as the programmer. But, as we try to make it easier and easier to solve our problems…
It’s just a bit farther until skynet takes over and we’re all doomed.
Jar of bees,
I wonder what Engelbart thinks of our reliability on computers today. Is he happy with the outcome, is it everything he envisioned or more? Maybe he has some of he same concerns as you. He could have blogged about it, you never know…