Would Licklider be happy with the AI slop that we see today? Would he be able to use LLMs in a productive manner?
People in that era could be optimistic because they did not suffer from information overload. The best symbiotic relationship is still man-book or man-pencil-and-paper.
The idea that one could treat a program delivered by google, facebook or amazon as something to cooperate with rather than use warily is much harder now than it was then.
https://www.quora.com/What-would-be-the-place-of-AI-in-Doug-...
Excerpt from Alan Kay's answer:
One big distinction in the 1962 time period is that they thought of “machine intelligence” as being a kind of complimentary set of thinking tools that could be “symbiotic” to how humans were able to think. They were not at all thinking about something like a slave or a major domo, but something more like a research assistant or a “Memex” (the latter was a big influence on Doug’s thinking).
In the very late 60s the “official AI researchers” started to think that something like “intelligent Greek slaves” were needed for the “Romans” (Americans), and became rivals to Doug’s notion of elevating human thinking rather than just elevating power. This was a bad idea then … and it’s a bad idea today.https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/227181.227186
It was interesting to see that Christopher Nolan featured Vannevar Bush prominently in the recent Oppenheimer film. Stripe press published some of his writings recently as well. (I haven't read this one yet)
Since Alan Kay is posting LLM takes on Quora (OpenAI partner), his singular answers will likely be incorporated into ChatGPT :)
As far as style and tone, you can certainly get LLMs to mimic Licklider's style with suitable prompting, e.g.
> "In replicating the reflective and anticipatory tone of the original text, it becomes evident that the concept of man-computer symbiosis was not merely speculative but a forecast grounded in the trajectory of technological and computational advancements. This partnership, as envisioned, holds the promise of amplifying human potential through the strategic leverage of computational power, thereby redefining the boundaries of what can be achieved through the confluence of human and machine capabilities. The profound foresight in recognizing and articulating such a partnership underscores a remarkable understanding of the complementary strengths of man and machine, heralding a new era in the evolution of technological augmentation."
> The best symbiotic relationship is still man-book or man-pencil-and-paper.
And foremost, man-man.