History of Intelligence Amplification

This work-in-progress note is still evolving. If you have any suggestions or questions, please send me a message via twitter, facebook, or email. You can also subscribe to get new posts when they come out.

Here's a non-exhaustive timeline of some critical works in the field of intelligence amplification.

1. In 1847, George Boole published a paper titled "The Mathematical Analysis of Logic," introducing Boolean algebra.
2. In 1936, Alan Turing published a paper titled "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem", introducing Turing Machine and the halting problem.
3. In 1945, Vannevar Bush published an article titled "As We May Think" in The Atlantic Monthly, proposing the Memex, a device that could store and retrieve information similar to how the human brain works
4. In 1945, John von Neumann co-authored the "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC", outlining the von Neumann architecture.
5. In 1948, Claude Shannon published a paper titled "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", laying the groundwork for modern information theory.
6. In 1950, Alan Turing published a paper titled "Computing Machinery and Intelligence", introducing the concept of Turing test.
7. In 1951, Marvin Minsky designed Stochastic Neural Analog Reinforcement Calculator (SNARC), the first artificial neural network (ANN) as an early attempt at simulating a network that could learn and potentially enhance intelligence
8. In 1955, John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence for Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, which is considered the founding event of AI as a field.
9. In 1956, Allen Newell, Herbert A. Simon, and Cliff Shaw developed the Logic Theorist, which proved theorems in symbolic logic and was described as the first artificial intelligence program.
10. In 1956, William Ross Ashby published "An Introduction to Cybernetics", introducing the term intelligence amplification (IA).
11. In 1958, John McCarthy designed Lisp in the paper "Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I", a programming language crucial for early AI development.
12. In 1960, J.C.R. Licklider published "Man-Computer Symbiosis," proposing a partnership between humans and computers where humans provide the initiative, direction, and integration, while machines extend their capabilities.
13. In 1962, Douglas Engelbart published "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework.", outlining a vision for technology that enhances human abilities to solve complex problems
14. In 1963, Ivan Sutherland developed Sketchpad in his Ph.D. thesis "Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System", as the earliest program ever to utilize a complete graphical interface for interacting with computers.
15. In 1965, Ted Nelson published "hypertext", a non-sequential way of linking information, crucial for future knowledge management systems.
16. 1968, Douglas Engelbart demonstrated "The Mother of All Demos", introducing a complete computer hardware and software system called the oN-Line System (NLS).
17. In 1969, Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon published "Human Problem Solving", explaining how humans think and solve problems with information processing theory of human reasoning.
18. In 1969, Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert published "Perceptrons", changing the direction of research in AI and contributing to the AI winter of the 1980s.
19. In 1972, Alan Kay developed the Smalltalk programming language and proposed the Dynabook concept in "A personal computer for children of all ages."
20. In 1973, Xerox PARC developed Xerox Alto, one of the first personal computers with GUI, WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) text editor, and desktop metaphor.
21. In 1974, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn began work on the TCP/IP protocol.
22. In 1976, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs released the Apple I.
23. In 1980, Seymour Papert published "Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas", advocating for computer literacy in education and introducing the Logo programming language.
24. In 1982, Autodesk launched AutoCAD, later became an essential tool for computer-aided design (CAD), used widely in architecture, engineering, and other fields.
25. In 1985, Howard Rheingold published "Tools for Thought", popularizing the term and exploring the history of computing for augmenting human thinking.
26. In 1988, Jarkko Oikarinen created Internet Relay Chat (IRC) as a means for real-time text communication over the internet, exemplifying the use of the internet as a real-time collaboration tool.
27. In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web.
28. In 1991, Guido van Rossum created the Python programming language.
29. In 1993, Marc Andreessen and his team developed Mosaic.
30. In 1993, Kieran Egan published "The Educated Mind: How Cognitive Tools Shape Our Understanding", exploring the historical development of cognitive tools and their impact on human thinking and learning.
31. In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com.
32. In 1995, Brendan Eich developed JavaScript at Netscape.
33. In 1995, Sun Microsystems introduced Java.
34. In 2004, David Allen published "Getting Things Done (GTD)".