The forgotten history of IA: Licklider and Engelbart's case for augmenting humans
patpat_mit · x · 2026-10-13
MIT's Cyborg Psychology group revisits the forgotten history of Intelligence Amplification (IA):
- 1960: J. C. R. Licklider's "Man-Computer Symbiosis" envisioned close cooperation between people and computers.
- 1962: Douglas Engelbart's "Augmenting Human Intellect" described a system where tools, language, methods, and training jointly improve our ability to tackle complex problems.
The provocation: what would change if we evaluated AI systems by how well they cultivate curiosity, judgment, and learning in people?
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