Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 217.
        Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
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        Date: 2025-11-13 10:33:20+00:00
        From: maurizio lana <maurizio.lana@uniupo.it>
        Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.208: thinking historically

> Isn't it time to begin thinking historically about the situation in which
> smart machines are being designed and woven into the fabric of our lives?

i fully agree Willard.

for me the main thread in this way of historical thinking is Douglas
Engelbart with «Augmenting human intellect: a conceptual framework»,
1962; and then «A research center for augmenting human intellect» 1968.
those are the years where there is the turning point of computers
entering our lives.

but another thread is that of "how will be able to find/digest/manage
all of this information" which starts (which appears in books!) with the
invention of printing, but could probably be traced back much further in
time and another one is the use of devices both to support/complement the
memory; and for dis-coupling the knowledge from the people who own it so
that space and time are no more a constraint.

the second and the third thread are not strictly about smart machines,
but are  appropriate (not machines but devices) and give the historical
perspective

Maurizio


Il 12/11/25 07:57, Humanist ha scritto:
>                Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 208.
>          Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
>                        Hosted by DH-Cologne
>                         www.dhhumanist.org
>                  Submit to:humanist@dhhumanist.org
>
>
>
>
>          Date: 2025-11-11 16:17:07+00:00
>          From: Willard McCarty<willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
>          Subject: history
>
> Those here are unlikely to be surprised by James Gleick's "How the Web
> Was Lost", New York Review of Books, December 4, 2025, but the article
> may prove handy to disabuse less well-informed friends and relations.
>
> Gleick's article is limited, however, by its framing as if history began with
> Burners-Lee et al. He fails to mention Vannevar Bush, Ted Nelson and many
> others whose thoughts amd schemes anticipated the WWW. The real problem
> here isn't the omission of predecessors itself but the unqualified marking of
> a starting point out of its historical context, as if that context does not
matter.
> It does, hugely. Adam and Eve had only a thunderous command to steer by,
> with no history, no experience. We have millennia of it. What's our excuse?
>
> Isn't it time to begin thinking historically about the situation in which
smart
> machines are being designed and woven into the fabric of our lives?
>
> Comments?
>
> Best,
> WM
> --
> Willard McCarty,
> Professor emeritus, King's College London;
> Editor, Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts,
>     Sciences and Humanities (Berghahn); Humanist
> www.mccarty.org.uk


a ubriacarci di sole, di fatica e di vento
p. levi, ferro

-----
Maurizio Lana
Università del Piemonte Orientale
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Piazza Roma 36 - 13100 Vercelli


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