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If this interests you I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" by John Markoff and "All Watche

If this interests you I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" by John Markoff and "All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace" by the BBC and Adam Curtis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_of_Loving_Grace_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_o...

cxr 4y ago
Howard Rheingold's book "Tools For Thought" profiles Ted (along with Engelbart, Licklider, and other familiar names). And you can read it for free nowadays from the author's own site. <http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/index.html#index http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/index.html#index>
- labrador 4y ago
  Thanks, this is fantastic. I see this and raise you "Seattle Mystic Alfred M. Hubbard: Inventor, Bootlegger and Psychedelic Pioneer" by Brad Holden https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57536256-seattle-mystic-alfred-m-hubbard https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57536256-seattle-myst... Alfred M. Hubbard had an influence on Silicon Valley that is not well known. From my copy of the book, page 73: "Meanwhile, as Hubbard crisscrossed the globe, he began hearing murmurs about a group of engineers and scientists in San Francisco who were expressing a strong interest in experiencing one of his guided trips [LSD]. They were located in a stretch of land that would eventually become known as Silicon Valley, and being a fellow inventor himself, the good Captain had every intention of paying them a visit"
AlbertCory 4y ago
> How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry .. and how it didn't. Confessing I haven't actually read the book, but I've certainly read reviews & other articles about it. Hippies did not build the Internet. Or the personal computer industry. They were around and some jumped on it early, but it's clickbait to say they built it. The TV series "Halt and Catch Fire" is actually a better picture of that era (Season One, at least).
- labrador 4y ago
  There's a difference between the words 'shaped' and 'built'. I'm sure Markoff chose his words carefully. 'shaped': determine the nature of; have a great influence on "his childhood was shaped by a loving relationship with his elder brother" 'built': past and past participle of build. 'build': construct (something) by putting parts or material together "the ironworks were built in 1736" Or in the context of the topic, in the early 60's Silicon Valley engineers began experimenting with LSD, Eastern philosophy and Science Fiction and their influence shaped views of what was possible with microchip tech and information theory. I've heard this rejoinder before that 'hippies' didn't build the internet, as if anyone who knew anything said that. It seems mostly driven by disdain for boomer hippies (who were probably the parents of those saying it)
  - AlbertCory 4y ago
    So you haven't read it either? Let's argue about a book neither of us have read. Hippies didn't "shape" the Internet, either. Rather, there was a general idea of openness which almost everyone shared, to some degree -- even the faculty and grad students and researchers who actually did build it. The telephone company people and the IBM'ers did not share it, and that's why their vision did not win out.
    - labrador 4y ago
      Of course I read it. What makes you think I have it. I'm pretty sure the problem we are having is that we have different definitions of 'hippie'
      - AlbertCory 4y ago
        > What makes you think I have it I assume that's "haven't" ? For sure. "Hippie" to me is not broadly defined. Hippies rejected society and regular jobs (and education). There were hippie posers and used-to-be's, who might have been the users on The Well.

cxr 4y ago

Howard Rheingold's book "Tools For Thought" profiles Ted (along with Engelbart, Licklider, and other familiar names). And you can read it for free nowadays from the author's own site. <http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/index.html#index http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/index.html#index>

labrador 4y ago
Thanks, this is fantastic. I see this and raise you "Seattle Mystic Alfred M. Hubbard: Inventor, Bootlegger and Psychedelic Pioneer" by Brad Holden https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57536256-seattle-mystic-alfred-m-hubbard https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57536256-seattle-myst... Alfred M. Hubbard had an influence on Silicon Valley that is not well known. From my copy of the book, page 73: "Meanwhile, as Hubbard crisscrossed the globe, he began hearing murmurs about a group of engineers and scientists in San Francisco who were expressing a strong interest in experiencing one of his guided trips [LSD]. They were located in a stretch of land that would eventually become known as Silicon Valley, and being a fellow inventor himself, the good Captain had every intention of paying them a visit"

AlbertCory 4y ago

> How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry .. and how it didn't. Confessing I haven't actually read the book, but I've certainly read reviews & other articles about it. Hippies did not build the Internet. Or the personal computer industry. They were around and some jumped on it early, but it's clickbait to say they built it. The TV series "Halt and Catch Fire" is actually a better picture of that era (Season One, at least).

labrador 4y ago
There's a difference between the words 'shaped' and 'built'. I'm sure Markoff chose his words carefully. 'shaped': determine the nature of; have a great influence on "his childhood was shaped by a loving relationship with his elder brother" 'built': past and past participle of build. 'build': construct (something) by putting parts or material together "the ironworks were built in 1736" Or in the context of the topic, in the early 60's Silicon Valley engineers began experimenting with LSD, Eastern philosophy and Science Fiction and their influence shaped views of what was possible with microchip tech and information theory. I've heard this rejoinder before that 'hippies' didn't build the internet, as if anyone who knew anything said that. It seems mostly driven by disdain for boomer hippies (who were probably the parents of those saying it)
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  So you haven't read it either? Let's argue about a book neither of us have read. Hippies didn't "shape" the Internet, either. Rather, there was a general idea of openness which almost everyone shared, to some degree -- even the faculty and grad students and researchers who actually did build it. The telephone company people and the IBM'ers did not share it, and that's why their vision did not win out.
  - labrador 4y ago
    Of course I read it. What makes you think I have it. I'm pretty sure the problem we are having is that we have different definitions of 'hippie'
    - AlbertCory 4y ago
      > What makes you think I have it I assume that's "haven't" ? For sure. "Hippie" to me is not broadly defined. Hippies rejected society and regular jobs (and education). There were hippie posers and used-to-be's, who might have been the users on The Well.