That's a poor comparison, though. Engelbart, in his genius, was pushing the boundries of technology itself. If he was socially inept, it's irrelevant. Google

That's a poor comparison, though. Engelbart, in his genius, was pushing the boundries of technology itself. If he was socially inept, it's irrelevant. Google, in this example, is pushing the boundries of the application of technology. (Look! You can Skype as you skydive!) As technological progress continues, we're going to find wonderful uses for new technology that we've never thought of before -- and we're going to find horrible uses as well. We'll say to ourselves later, "What were we thinking?" Certainly our instinct is to be shy of new uses of technology, but that doesn't mean such an instinct is always wrong.