J c r licklider biography of michael

J. C. R. Licklider (almost universally known as Lick to his co-workers) was one of the most influential computer scientists, both in vision, and in actions.

In vision, he was one of the first who foresaw that computers would be used, not just for calculations, but to handle information in general.

(Remember that computers grew out of devices whose purpose was purely to aid in mathematical work, and that was still the main task to which they were being put at the time; although they had begun to be used in business is significant ways, starting with LEO.) Drawing on his background in experimental psychology, he then took the next step, in his paper Man-Computer Symbiosis, to visualize a coming pairing of human and machine intelligence - a vision which is only now starting to appear.

As part of that vision of the future, he may have been the very first to foresee that these new computers which he visualized being connected to each other in a world-wide