If you've never watched the retrospectively-named "Mother of All Demos", it's an extraordinary document of current-day technology that was somehow done in 1968. There are parts that just seem "wrong" — as seemingly-anachronistic as if Don Draper used a PowerPoint. Yet, there it is. http://archive.org/details/XD300-23_68HighlightsAResearchCnt...
Another one of his hidden gems is the video where he discussed how they created a virtual tele-conferencing room by moulding CRT screens in the shapes of the head of each participant and projected their face onto it.
It's the perfect example of a practical solution Doug invented decades ago that still hasn't been matched by today's technology.
P.S. I was never able to find the link after I saw it once, so if someone here knows where to find it; please let me know.
>>It's the perfect example of a practical solution Doug invented decades ago that still hasn't been matched by today's technology.
I just told one my co-workers about this and he nearly broke down crying. I asked him who he was and he went into the same example you gave. To say he was ahead of his time is an understatement.
Always sad to lose such a visionary. I'm just learning about some of these incredible people and their amazing contributions.
It would be amazing if someone could do more historical documentary type work on early pioneers in computing. I've learned a ton about Doug Englebart since seeing this post about his passing, and I now regret not having studied his work more closely earlier. It also reminds me that there are many others who probably had / have insightful things to say that could be lost to the sands of time. Ted Nelson seems like an obvious candidate, but who wouldn't want to learn more about people like:
Herbert Simon[1]
Norbert Weiner[2]
Marvin Minsky[3]
Richard Greenblatt[4]
Bill Gosper[5]
John McCarthy[6]
Barbara Liskov[7]
J.C.R. Licklider[8]
Edit: and, of course, we can't neglect Vannevar Bush[9] or Claude Shannon[10] either.
I don't know about order... they've all done some amazing stuff. FWIW, there's some interesting historical / biographical information on some of these folks in two books, both by Steven Levy:
Artificial Life
and
Hackers: Heroes Of The Computer Revolution
That said, the stuff Claude Shannon did basically established the field of Information Theory[1], which underpins huge swathes of our modern digital world. You could do worse than reading up on him.
In the demo video, there are some noises in the background, I'm assuming from his workstation -- rather pleasant and atmospheric. Anyone know what they are? Is it a transmission artifact? Feedback intended for the user (maybe related to the chorded keyboard)?
I've read several accounts of this presentation ( one is in _What the Dormouse Said_ ), but don't recall an explanation.
The account in What the Dormouse Said says the sound was intentional audio feedback:
"Engelbart referred to the on-screen cursor as a "bug" or a "tracking spot," and there were occasionally odd buzzing sounds in the background as he executed commands at the keyboard. The group had been experimenting with using the computer to generate different tones depending upon what was being executed, as a way of creating auditory feedback."
It's not intended. It's clock and/or data-signals that leaks and has gotten amplified, if you look at it in an oscillator you will probably see a square or sawtooth wave at around 1KHz. You might even be able to read that data...
I don't know, but as a guess it sounds like a transmission artifact from when his terminal redraws. Maybe some cross-talk between the terminal transmission line and the microphone feed?
WOW! How have I never seen this before? 1968??? That is amazing. I'll have to come back and watch the entire video later this evening when I have the time.
I will say though that taking a look at it for just a few minutes is incredibly inspiring. It's a reminder that with enough passion and determination to push the boundaries of current technologies, anyone can become an innovator who sets in motion a wave of changes that effects the lives of everyone on this planet.
Comments
If you've never watched the retrospectively-named "Mother of All Demos", it's an extraordinary document of current-day technology that was somehow done in 1968. There are parts that just seem "wrong" — as seemingly-anachronistic as if Don Draper used a PowerPoint. Yet, there it is. http://archive.org/details/XD300-23_68HighlightsAResearchCnt...
Edit: link had been to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY but a user below posted this archive.org link which is better. Thanks, mxfh!
Another one of his hidden gems is the video where he discussed how they created a virtual tele-conferencing room by moulding CRT screens in the shapes of the head of each participant and projected their face onto it.
It's the perfect example of a practical solution Doug invented decades ago that still hasn't been matched by today's technology.
P.S. I was never able to find the link after I saw it once, so if someone here knows where to find it; please let me know.
I just told one my co-workers about this and he nearly broke down crying. I asked him who he was and he went into the same example you gave. To say he was ahead of his time is an understatement.
Always sad to lose such a visionary. I'm just learning about some of these incredible people and their amazing contributions.
What is needed is a history project.
See Max Jammer's Conceptual Development of Quantum Mechanics as a model. He was interviewing the Old Ones before they passed on.
It would be amazing if someone could do more historical documentary type work on early pioneers in computing. I've learned a ton about Doug Englebart since seeing this post about his passing, and I now regret not having studied his work more closely earlier. It also reminds me that there are many others who probably had / have insightful things to say that could be lost to the sands of time. Ted Nelson seems like an obvious candidate, but who wouldn't want to learn more about people like:
Herbert Simon[1]
Norbert Weiner[2]
Marvin Minsky[3]
Richard Greenblatt[4]
Bill Gosper[5]
John McCarthy[6]
Barbara Liskov[7]
J.C.R. Licklider[8]
Edit: and, of course, we can't neglect Vannevar Bush[9] or Claude Shannon[10] either.
etc...
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_A._Simon
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Minsky
[4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Greenblatt_(programmer)
[5]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gosper
[6]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCarthy_%28computer_scien...
[7]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Liskov
[8]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.C.R._Licklider
[9]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush
[10]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Shannon
This is such a great list, I just started frantically jotting some of these names down so I can start digging into their work.
Is there any particular order I should tackle these?
I don't know about order... they've all done some amazing stuff. FWIW, there's some interesting historical / biographical information on some of these folks in two books, both by Steven Levy:
Artificial Life
and
Hackers: Heroes Of The Computer Revolution
That said, the stuff Claude Shannon did basically established the field of Information Theory[1], which underpins huge swathes of our modern digital world. You could do worse than reading up on him.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_theory
In the demo video, there are some noises in the background, I'm assuming from his workstation -- rather pleasant and atmospheric. Anyone know what they are? Is it a transmission artifact? Feedback intended for the user (maybe related to the chorded keyboard)?
I've read several accounts of this presentation ( one is in _What the Dormouse Said_ ), but don't recall an explanation.
The account in What the Dormouse Said says the sound was intentional audio feedback:
"Engelbart referred to the on-screen cursor as a "bug" or a "tracking spot," and there were occasionally odd buzzing sounds in the background as he executed commands at the keyboard. The group had been experimenting with using the computer to generate different tones depending upon what was being executed, as a way of creating auditory feedback."
Looks like a pretty uniform buzz, too
http://i.imgur.com/BbaGsCu.png
It's not intended. It's clock and/or data-signals that leaks and has gotten amplified, if you look at it in an oscillator you will probably see a square or sawtooth wave at around 1KHz. You might even be able to read that data...
I don't know, but as a guess it sounds like a transmission artifact from when his terminal redraws. Maybe some cross-talk between the terminal transmission line and the microphone feed?
Thank you for posting, this version is much higher quality than the other youtube links.
The version hosted on archive.org seems to have even less compression artifacts.
http://archive.org/details/XD300-23_68HighlightsAResearchCnt...
WOW! How have I never seen this before? 1968??? That is amazing. I'll have to come back and watch the entire video later this evening when I have the time.
I will say though that taking a look at it for just a few minutes is incredibly inspiring. It's a reminder that with enough passion and determination to push the boundaries of current technologies, anyone can become an innovator who sets in motion a wave of changes that effects the lives of everyone on this planet.
No offense, but that metaphor is still an euphemism.