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@deprogrammaticaipsum@mas.to
2025-07-07 03:58:01

The 82nd edition of De Programmatica Ipsum is out!
This month, we look at hits and misses (mostly misses, let us be honest) in our long tradition of predicting the future; in the Library section, we review "The Dream Machine" by M. Mitchell Waldrop and famous papers authored by J. C. R. Licklider; and in our Vidéothèque section, we watch "The Mother of all Demos" by Doug Engelbart.

A set of tarot cards

Issue 082: Futurism
Welcome to the 82nd issue of De Programmatica Ipsum, about Futurism. In this edition, we look at hits and misses (mostly misses, let us be honest) in our long tradition of predicting the future; in the Library section, we review "The Dream Machine" by M. Mitchell Waldrop and famous papers authored by J. C. R. Licklider; and in our Vidéothèque section, we watch "The Mother of all Demos" by Doug Engelbart.

@deprogrammaticaipsum@mas.to
2025-07-09 08:40:58

"Here is the thing: the video describes, at an excruciatingly slow pace (at least by the standards of our generation’s TikTok-formatted brains), with the terms and phraseology of 1968, and during no less than one and a half hours, the very computer you are using to read this article. Yes, the one on your lap or on your desk."

Doug Engelbart
As in any human group, there are certain pilgrimages, certain rites of passage that all software developers apparently must go through. They are various and equally anecdotical: to compile and boot their own Linux kernel; to read "The Art of Computer Programming" in its entirety (and then send their CV to Bill Gates); to give a presentation in a conference; and finally, to sit through the whole duration of "The Mother of All Demos", the recording of the unavoidable presentation made by Douglas …