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December 9, 1968 Douglas Engelbart did something what I believe was a huge leap into the future. He didn't just invent the mouse, but the whole experience and i

December 9, 1968 Douglas Engelbart did something what I believe was a huge leap into the future. He didn't just invent the mouse, but the whole experience and interactivity with a computer which was unheard. Do that sort of things still happen today? Of course new things get invented and new ways to interact with media and a computer such as Leap Motion, Myo - Gesture control armband, Siri, and I'm sure there are tons of other examples out there. But they seem to be what in Engelbart's presentation was the mouse, just a part of the larger picture.

ctdonath 13y ago
This presentation was on par with the likes of Gutenberg's press, whoever first smelted metal, Einstein's relativity, and a handful of other simple concepts with singularity / black-swan level impacts. Great improvements & refinements occurred to be sure, but the base concepts were utterly new and staggeringly impactful.
- eru 13y ago
  The Chinese had invented printing presses with movable type before (but just didn't have that much use for it, given their writing system). Lorentz and others had worked on precursors to special relativity, relativity was in the air. If Einstein hadn't been there, we might have had to wait a few years more for some lesser minds to come up with a piece of relativity and his contributions to quantum mechanics each, but we would have gotten those achievements in any case.
davepeck 13y ago
While it was more commercial in bent, I've always felt that the original iPhone introduction[1] was a spiritual successor to Englebart's demo. [1] Jan 9, 2007 video in this podcast series: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/apple-keynotes/id275834665?mt=2 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/apple-keynotes/id2758346...
- larrybolt 13y ago
  I have to agree with that, I still own an iPod Classic Video and after 2 HD replacements and a new display (I wasn't really smart nor careful the first time I attempted to replace the HD) it still is the best Media device I ever had. I wonder if Apple will be able to keep pushing devices of such impact out on the market.
Houshalter 13y ago
Presumably he was picking the low hanging fruit. By today all the obvious or easy ideas have already been done a hundred times over. It's always harder to make progress in an older field than a newer one.

ctdonath 13y ago

This presentation was on par with the likes of Gutenberg's press, whoever first smelted metal, Einstein's relativity, and a handful of other simple concepts with singularity / black-swan level impacts. Great improvements & refinements occurred to be sure, but the base concepts were utterly new and staggeringly impactful.

eru 13y ago
The Chinese had invented printing presses with movable type before (but just didn't have that much use for it, given their writing system). Lorentz and others had worked on precursors to special relativity, relativity was in the air. If Einstein hadn't been there, we might have had to wait a few years more for some lesser minds to come up with a piece of relativity and his contributions to quantum mechanics each, but we would have gotten those achievements in any case.

davepeck 13y ago

While it was more commercial in bent, I've always felt that the original iPhone introduction[1] was a spiritual successor to Englebart's demo. [1] Jan 9, 2007 video in this podcast series: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/apple-keynotes/id275834665?mt=2 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/apple-keynotes/id2758346...

larrybolt 13y ago
I have to agree with that, I still own an iPod Classic Video and after 2 HD replacements and a new display (I wasn't really smart nor careful the first time I attempted to replace the HD) it still is the best Media device I ever had. I wonder if Apple will be able to keep pushing devices of such impact out on the market.

Houshalter 13y ago

Presumably he was picking the low hanging fruit. By today all the obvious or easy ideas have already been done a hundred times over. It's always harder to make progress in an older field than a newer one.