David Bates – 25/03/14

Intelligence amplification: Thinking with machines after the war

With the emergence of the digital computer in the postwar era it became possible to imagine artificial thinking machines that might replace the human minds that they simulated. However, the project of artificial intelligence made uncertain progress in the period, not least because the simulation of human cognition required deep knowledge of the mind and brain, knowledge that was only in its infancy. The parallel project of intelligence amplification has received less attention, in part because it was so less ambitious. The major figures (Bush, Licklider, Engelbart) have usually been understood as heroes in the evolution of human-computer interaction design.

Chapters:

1. Introduction
2. Looking at thinking machines? Or thinking thanks to machines?
3. Pioneers of intelligence amplification
   1. William Ross Ashby.
   2. Vennavar Bush – “As we may think.”
   3. Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider – Man-computer symbiosis
4. Douglas Englebart – Augmenting human intellect
5. The unprogrammable