J.C.R. Licklider (1915–1990) was a psychologist and computer scientist whose ideas seeded interactive and networked computing. As head of ARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office, he funded much of the research that led to ARPANET.
Key works in the library
- Man-Computer Symbiosis (1960) — humans and computers as coupled partners.
- On-Line Man-Computer Communication (1962) — real-time interactive computing.
- the Intergalactic Computer Network memo (1963) — the “Intergalactic Computer Network.”
- The Computer as a Communication Device (1968) — the computer as a communication medium.
Significance
Licklider is the headwater of the Independent Internet lineage. His insistence on partnership and networked autonomy runs forward through Engelbart and into the principle of decentralization.