Man-Computer Symbiosis paper by Licklider
“Man-Computer Symbiosis” is a key speculative paper published in 1960 by psychologist/computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider, which envisions that mutually-interdependent, “living together”, tightly-coupled human brains and computing machines would prove to complement each other’s strengths to a high degree:
Man-computer symbiosis is a subclass of man-machine systems. There are many man-machine systems. At present, however, there are no man-computer symbioses. The purposes of this paper are to present the concept and, hopefully, to foster the development of man-computer symbiosis by analyzing some problems of interaction between men and computing machines, calling attention to applicable principles of man-machine engineering, and pointing out a few questions to which research answers are needed. The hope is that, in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together very tightly, and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today.
Licklider, J.C.R., “Man-Computer Symbiosis”, IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, vol. HFE-1, 4-11, Mar 1960.
In Licklider’s vision, many of the pure artificial intelligence systems envisioned at the time by over-optimistic researchers would prove unnecessary. (This paper is also seen by some historians as marking the genesis of ideas about computer networks which later blossomed into the Internet).
via Intelligence amplification – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The above quote (my emphasis) is a good segway into the idea of us learning about our objects. Symbiosis is both ways – not just one way (i.e. man dictating to everything else). What does it mean to become highly familiar with our materials, our environment and our actions on and in them? What will come out of this new symbiotic closeness?