Folktales from the history of computing, in three parts
What do you know about the industry you are working in? How has innovation occurred over the last decades?
In three sessions (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday), we zoom into three moments in the history of computing:
- 1945: Vannevar Bush and the Memex – a fictional device that somehow became the inspiration for modern computing. How was the Memex intended to work? The pre-history of computers goes back to 1890: what was the context in which it was invented?
- 1968: Douglas Engelbart and the Mother of All Demos – the invention of the personal computer. We trace the path of the PC from SAGE to Windows 95 and, in parallel, the consciousness raising efforts of Stewart Brand.
- 1969 and the birth of ARPANET. It’s the network that becomes the internet, but it’s not the first network nor the first use of packet switching. Through networks that are no longer with us, we find our way to modern computing, and draw some lessons for how innovation happens.
Matt follows the tangents and picks up on the forgotten ideas to give a parallel history of computing. Here are the roots of today’s world, but they didn’t appear out of nowhere – let’s look at what else was going on.
Track: Devops, AI, Back-end, Front-end
Level: Beginner
On-demand video: No
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Matt Webb runs a specialist consultancy focusing on ventures and design-led special projects. He’s created prototypes with Google (producing two patents) and built a tweeting bookshop in a vending machine. Previously Matt was MD of a startup accelerator with R/GA Ventures, and co-founded the design studio BERG with clients including Nespresso, Intel, and Bonnier, before spinning out an Internet of Things platform startup. He is co-author of Mind Hacks (O’Reilly, 2004). Matt has written at his blog Interconnected.org since 2000, and lives in London, UK. |
