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Engelbart’s Theory of Technical Evolution
Douglas Engelbart’s Theory of Technical Evolution is the amalgamation of several areas of thought including: Computer Engineering, Linguistics, Anthropology, Philosophy and History to explain the evolving relationship between the human species and technology. The theory states that humans are born into a preexisting system of social and cultural structures, tools, artifacts, and methodologies. These different factors make up the current technological system. No human is born with knowledge or understanding of this technological system, but as a person grows he or she is shaped by this system and becomes a part of the system as the technologies make up the person’s life. The assimilation into the technological system and the eventual drive to push the system forward is what Engelbart calls the “Human Augmentation System.”[2]

Human Augmentation System
“The whole subset of learned behaviours and physiological capabilities which allow humans to modulate and interact with the environment is our ‘augmentation system’. This includes tools and artefacts, from pens and toothbrushes to computers and hypertext systems. But it also includes the social structures we live within, the techniques and discourses we acquire, the ‘training, knowledge and skills that have to be installed as well as language, an extremely important invention.”

Engelbart splits the Human Augmentation System into two parts: the tool system and the human system. [2] The tool system, material tools or artifacts, are externalized technologies developed to allow humans to do things they could not otherwise do. The other half of the system, the human system, includes three parts: language, methodology, and training.[2] According to Engelbart, the components of the human system are what enable humans to use the tool system.[2] Greater development of the human system leads to improved use of the tool system.[2]

Tool System

Artifacts--physical objects designed to provide for human comfort, for the manipulation of things or materials, and for the manipulation of symbols.[3]

Human System

Language--the way in which the individual parcels out the picture of his world into the concepts that his mind uses to model that world, and the symbols that he attaches to those concepts and uses in consciously manipulating the concepts ("thinking").[3]

Methodology--the methods, procedures, strategies, etc., with which an individual organizes his goal-centered (problem-solving) activity.[3]

Training--the conditioning needed by the human being to bring his skills in using Means 1, 2, and 3 to the point where they are operationally effective.[3]

language
To Engelbart language is the most important subset of acquired capabilities in the human augmentation system.[2] To Engelbart, language is the way humans understand the world around them. Language allows humans to assign meaning to experiences, objects, and ideas. The only way a person can relate to something is through the context of his or her language.[3] The human experience is limited ultimately by what level of meaning can be assigned to it. Therefore, language is the most important technology within the human system. The ability to learn and to develop the other technologies in both the human and tool systems relies first on the development of the language technology.[3]

Evolution
According to Engelbart’s Theory, nothing humans do is natural. Humans develop and augment themselves in accordance with the time and culture they live within. As the human system develops in a specific time and in a specific culture, the material artifacts are used more efficiently. New boundaries of what people are able to do are found.

This chart depicts the interactions between the tool and the human systems. The central box is what the current capabilities of humans are based on the level of development of the human and tool systems. These two systems are interrelated but their evolution is unbalanced.[2] Engelbart believes that the tool system is driving the human system and the pace is accelerating. [2] According to the theory the tool system moves much faster than the human system and it takes generations for humans to catch up in understanding the effects of the tool system as well as the infrastructure to truly manage the tool system in a controlled manner.

The Future of Evolution
Engelbart believes this unbalanced evolution is alterable. Humans learn from technology. This is an unalterable truth. The way to bring more balance to the evolution is to become aware of the process of the evolution itself. The evolution of technology will be determined by the level of mastery of language humans can reach. If humans can find a way to “map the pattern system”[2] of language into a material artifact, then greater understanding and consciousness can be attained.[3]

The Theory in Relation to Engelbart’s Work

Douglas Engelbart is most famously known for inventing the computer mouse. This innovation in itself has altered the entire way humans interact with computers. Engelbart is less known for his contributions in developing the first iteration of the internet in 1968 with ARPANET. Engelbart believed that the greatest contribution he could make to the human race was the proliferation of information. The more information that could be spread through the human race would grant humans more control over the co-evolution process between man and technology. Engelbart’s creation of the first networked computer environment (ARPANET) was his first attempt to “map the pattern system” of language into a physical, externalized tool for humankind.[2]