intelligence_amplification.mdwn (1250B)
1 Computers (and many of their predecessors such as mechanical calculators and 2 tabulating machines) were invented to assist humans in cognitive tasks such 3 as calculation and data processing. **Intelligence amplification** takes 4 place when computer interaction assists the human user in conceptual 5 thinking by e.g. improving access to information. A lot of today's common 6 computer applications (including the [[WWW]]) can be regarded as IA, even 7 though the concept became unfashionable in the 1980s. 8 9 For permacomputing purposes, IA can be regarded as a subset of 10 [[awareness amplification]]. 11 12 The use of punched cards and mechanical devices for "enhancing natural 13 intelligence" was already suggested in 1832 by Semyon Korsakov and in the 14 1910s by Wilhem Ostwald. In these suggestions, each punch card would contain 15 an idea or a "micro-thought", and a mechanical device would assist in 16 finding and connecting them. Emanuel Goldberg (1930) and Vannevar Bush 17 (1945) combined this concept with a microfiche viewer/searcher. 18 19 In Douglas Engelbart's Augmentation Research Center, these ideas evolved 20 into a user interface prototype that supported a form of human-computer 21 symbiosis. Hypertext and many modern GUI concepts originate from Engelbart's 22 project.