Comments on: Among the Wizards

By: While I’m Out : Ruminate

While I’m Out : Ruminate — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:39:13 +0000

[...] inspire from Gardner). Interesting thoughts and observations started coming in from others, such as Alan Levine and various tidbits you can find by browsing the PFTF Ning community. I don’t have a clear [...]

By: Gardner

Gardner — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:52:29 +0000

I agree with your critique–but as you make clear, the highs far outweighed the lows, and the highs were beyond stratospheric. To meet Doug Engelbart and tell him thanks–to be sitting next to you and Rachel, just behind Doug, as Alan and Andy held forth, to see Alan hug Doug just before that talk, and really the entire celebration in Memorial Auditorum–it’s beyond description for me, and I’ve been suffering very intense withdrawal pangs ever since.

I need to blog….

By: Scott Leslie

Scott Leslie — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:24:01 +0000

All I can say is “Wow!” Your title is spot on, you truly were amongst the Wizards. You simulatenously name at least 6 of my digital heroes in one post. Lucky dog!

By: Alan Levine aka CogDog

Alan Levine aka CogDog — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:11:01 +0000

@Dorai – Thanks for sharing your experience. I do wonder how an NLS would work for say, 1 billion people?

As far as the meta NIC, we were there was Doug has referred tp NMC as an example of a NIC… I think the meta NIC is really the collective (!) or connective (?) one of the web.

By: Chris L

Chris L — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:06:43 +0000

It’s great to read how you experienced the event alongside Gardner’s thoughts about the same. Maybe there really is something to the tiny amount of progress that it seems we’ve made. It certainly sounds like it was a fantastic program, even if I have little idea *still* what Collective Intelligence is fundamentally about despite reading a few books and a lot of web writing. For now, for me, it remains one of those emergent ideas that only super geniuses, evil and otherwise, seem to be able to predict much about.

By: Dorai Thodla

Dorai Thodla — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:14:56 +0000

Alan,
Thanks for sharing the experience with us. I spent two years with Doug and built the first version of HyperScope prototype (that is just a bit of background).

There are many ideas of Doug (Co-evolution of Human and Tools system, Improving Improvement through NICs, Dynamic Knowledge Repositories and his concept of a KWAC – Knowledge Workshop Architect). I think beyond hypertext and computers, when you watch him work with NLS, you are amazed at how much he can do with so little. And that NLS just worked against a simple text database.

I think there are many exciting possibilities. Many of them are at a very conceptual level. I am looking forward to seeing a lot more after this conference. Doug’s admirers (me being one of them) went off to do our own things in life. However, once you meet and spend time with him, your life changes (ever so subtly). Your thinking vocabulary gets altered a bit. I hope some of that happened at the conference.

The thing that will stay with me for a long period is the concept of a meta improvement community (the one he refers to as meta NIC). A few of those would alter this world.

By: NG

NG — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:34:40 +0000

Let me tell you, the people in that accident really did have a bad day. My hubby was one of the first medical people on site. We drove past within a minute or two after the accident happened and stopped to help. We were there for an hour and a half before we finally left because they had flown one of the passengers down to the Valley.