True light of genius
The technology visionary Doug Engelbart was an exemplary pioneer. His imagination and creativity worked for a genuine professional cause and were not tied to projects of crass commercialism of the kind that may have caused the dotcom bubble.
The inventor of the mouse hardly profited from the appropriately named device because his vision was far too early for its commercial exploitation. That may have been a matter of timing, even so, it puts Engelbart, the man who saw tomorrow, in a different league from other pioneers like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who expertly wedded technology to commerce and became Forbes celebrities.
The mouse has been overtaken by the swiping finger in the age of the touch screen and it’s a whole new world already. The enormity of Engelbart’s contribution to today’s wide panorama of personal computers and devices can be gained from the fact that he also helped develop ARPANet, the US government research network that was a forerunner to the Internet.
The pioneer of video teleconferencing and a host of other inventions that shook the world as early as the 1960s was warned in time that his wild ideas would ill suit academia and that his métier lay in a tech lab. He went there to become one of the handful of people who were truly influential in making the world what it is today. Contrast that with the Indian who is proclaiming himself to be the inventor of email and has even hired a PR firm to further his dubious claim and the true worth of a genius shines even brighter.
Post new comment