The Demo was unique, indeed the mother of all ... I selected it as Engelbart's greatest contribution because it acted as a catalyst, in all kinds of different ways in the minds of the audience attending. It brought all Doug's inventions and ideas, and vision to the surface, it made them concrete, proved they worked, and proved that the computer could be applied to augment the human intellect, and could be used to harness and enhance the collective intelligence of collaborative groups. It was perhaps one of the last great post-war attempts to put technology on the stage, and present it as a means towards improving the human situation, in the spirit of Vannevar Bush' "As We May think".
The Demo was unique, indeed the mother of all ... I selected it as Engelbart's greatest contribution because it acted as a catalyst, in all kinds of different ways in the minds of the audience attending. It brought all Doug's inventions and ideas, and vision to the surface, it made them concrete, proved they worked, and proved that the computer could be applied to augment the human intellect, and could be used to harness and enhance the collective intelligence of collaborative groups. It was perhaps one of the last great post-war attempts to put technology on the stage, and present it as a means towards improving the human situation, in the spirit of Vannevar Bush' "As We May think".