Doug Englebart: Doug’s Story
The economics professor wanted to know what kind of research he was planning to get started. What kind of research he’d do would be important for his career etc. Doug told him about computers and augmentation – there came a point when he didn’t look very interested. He looked at Doug and said: Do you know how promotions are done at university? Doug remembers the moment well: My jaw dropped, guess I don’t. It’s about peer review: If you don’t get papers published you won’t get advanced. Papers get published by peer review.Talk like this and they won’t get reviews. So much for blindly looking for an academic career!
.. So he said would you notice if everything and everyone here increased by 10 in each dimension? What would happen?
Many said they wouldn’t notice a thing as the angles would be the same; looking at someone bigger would look the same if you yourself was bigger. But what about weight? And strength?
.. Then Bill English came to work with Doug at the beginning of 1964. He had gotten his M.S. at Stanford in 1962, in engineering. A very energetic and competent engineer. Very bright, very active. He complemented Doug and provided things Doug wasn’t good at. Doug had his right hand man, his doer.
.. His work was to be developing a means to augment the human intellect. These “means” can include many things–all of which appear to be but extensions of means developed and used in the past to help man apply his native sensory, mental, and motor capabilities– and we consider the whole system of a human and his augmentation means as a proper field of research for practical possibilities.