The Dream Machine
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The Dream Machine
| Full title | The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal |
|---|---|
| Author | M. Mitchell Waldrop |
| Published | 2001 |
| Pages | 528 |
| Recommended | 3 times |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Waldrop’s 2001 biography of J.C.R. Licklider, the psychologist who ran ARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office and funded most of what became interactive computing and the internet — the case that a single program officer with taste and leverage is an institution. |
Where I heard about it
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A reply to Sarah Guo — in the thread under her question on X (March 2025): “is there a book / essay about environments that best support scientific discovery? Not about specifically bell labs, cavendish, xerox parc, los alamos - but why these places were so productive?” The full list of replies is on Is There a Book… (tweet).
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On Patrick Collison’s Bookshelf — Patrick Collison’s catalog of the physical books he owns, where he flags this one as particularly great (green). Saved in Kyle’s April 19th, 2020 Roam daily note.
Connections
- Books That Have Shaped Kale (Max Forsey): on the list, glossed “computers as partners for thinking”.
- DARPA — the agency Licklider’s office sat inside; the funding model is the book’s real subject.
- Xerox PARC — staffed heavily out of Licklider’s network.
- Stripe Press — reissued the book, which is how it reached this audience.
- Technological Innovation — the portfolio idea.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.