Author: JCR Licklider

This is a classic paper of human-computer interaction and it lays out the foundation of the currently operating paradigm of “human in the loop” computing. Licklider positions Man-Computer Symbiosis (MCS) between “Mechanically Extended Man,” the paradigm of the industrial revolution, where technology tools extend the arms, ears, and eyes of mankind, and “Artificial Intelligence,” a time (distant in the future) when computers will actually think. Linklider says of that time that will will eventually, “concede dominance in the distant future of cerebration to machines alone.” Since that hasn’t happened yet, and won’t for a long while (maybe even can’t depending on your philosophical position), a symbiosis is suggested.

The stated goal: “To think in interaction with a computer in the same way that you think with a colleague whose competence supplements your won will require much tighter coupling between man and machine than is … possible today.”

The modern computer will be flexible (cover a large class of calculating, data-processing, and information storage and retreiveal tasks). Linklider thinks that computers can take care of much of the busy work of intellectual work. The getting ready, data massage, info-viz like help in knowing what questions to ask and to see correlations. Humans will formulate the hypotheses / ask the questions / think of the mechanisms, procedures, and models.

The information-processing equipment, for its part, will convert hypothe-
ses into testable models and then test the models against data (which the
human operator may designate roughly and identify as relevant when the
computer presents them for his approval). The equipment will answer ques-
tions. It will simulate the mechanisms and models, carry out the procedures,
and display the results to the operator. It will transform data, plot graphs
(“cutting the cake” in whatever way the human operator specifies, or in sev-
eral alternative ways if the human operator is not sure what he wants). The
equipment will interpolate, extrapolate, and transform. It will convert static
equations or logical statements into dynamic models so the human operator
can examine their behavior. In general, it will carry out the routinizable,
clerical operations that fill the intervals between decisions.

What stands in the way?, you might ask. Linklider has the following list:

• Speed mismatch between man and machine
• Hardware Memory requirements (solved!)
• Memory Organization Requirements (soooo not solved!)
• High Level Languages (FORTRAN, LISP, etc.)
• Input / Output Paradigms (moving past timesharing… use of the desktop as natural interaction technique)
  • Desktop as natural interaction techinque
  • Large Wall-top displays
  • Natural Language (speech) interaction (98% at Bell Labs?!)