TerrieMiller.com

This is a copy-and-paste of post I did in June 2005 on another blog that’s going away. Thought it might be worth keeping this one.

I just finished an interesting book, What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry by John Markoff.

There are a number of books that discuss the history of the personal computer, but this one is different, delving into the motivations of and connections between the people behind the scene. The fact that there’s some sex, drugs and rock-and-roll doesn’t hurt either, of course, but those things weren’t at the forefront of the story because they were recreational…they’re there because the story is one of people who were pushing limits and expanding our culture.

The revelation in this book is that there’s a direct linage between the people behind the computer revolution and the interesting people in technology today. A lot of books about the computer industry will tell you that the invention of word processing software lead to an explosion of public interest in the personal computer, but what they leave out is that the people behind all of this weren’t particularly interested in building a word processor. They were interested in augmenting the power of the human mind.

Doug Engelbart wanted computers to go far beyond mere calculators; he wanted them to act as augmentation of human memory and brain power. And, long before the internet, he wanted them to act in connection with each other, not as isolated devices. He was also interested in making people and groups more productive. “…what Engelbart was interested in doing was as much about sociology and organizational theory as it was about technology. In his mind, augmentation was always a complete system, not just a box.” Sounds like a hero of the 43folders crowd to me.

Another group that the book touches on is the early computer hobbyists, the People’s Computer Company, and the Homebrew Computer Club. Did you know that “Dr. Dobb’s” began life as “Dr. Dobb’s Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics and Orthodontia”? (Later it become “Dr. Dobb’s Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia: Running Light Without Overbyte.”) I thought there was a lot of insight here about the venerable ancestry of MAKE.

Stewart Brand is mixed up in all of it, the best example of a modern-day Renaissance Man you’re likely to find. And perhaps the most deeply influential as well; it seems like everything Brand does matters, and he makes it look as if it’s just a matter of pursuing whatever interests him at the time.

One of the big takeaways of Dormouse for me is that most of the people involved in the early days of modern technology didn’t seem to be particularly driven by an interest in computers. They were interesting in what them might be able to do with computing technology. The driving ideas were things like augmenting the human mind, expanding human consciousness, making tools available to enable free speech — big, hairy, audacious goals that go a lot further than building the next must-have personal entertainment gadget. And I think it helped me re-appreciate working for a company that publishes “computer books” along with stuff like Mind Hacks, We the Media, and MAKE.

PS: If you’re wondering about the title of the book, here’s a hint.