Ā
Ā
Ā
āThe original hypertext concept of the 1960s
got lost on the way to the Web–
and all current document standards oppose it.
This is an important fight.ā
Ted Nelson, inĀ Xanadu Basics.Ā
Ā
Todayās computer world is not as many idealists had dreamt it. – and certainly not how Ted Nelson, who coined the term hypertext in the 60ā, had imagined it.
Ted Nelson – information technology thinker, pioneer, philosopher, and founder ofĀ project XanaduĀ (1960)
– has been defending a vastly different web infrastructure: one that favors freedom, privacy, creativity, and understanding. He advocates for new forms of writing and new forms of education fostered by the hypertext system he originally worked on.
His vision for organizing our computer interfaces and presenting information involves creating visible connections between parallel pages, and highlighting related content. It supports connected documents, non-hierarchical ways of structuring, and maintaining true archives. It aims for clarity of visualization, to empower people, and make us all smarter.
These different models directly relate to the issue of modern culture and how technology is shaping it.Ā Can we use these paradigms to strengthen human civilization? How can the original framework of the hypertext inform our existential hope, and help us navigate towards better futures?
Join us for a night of telling and debating the alternative history of personal computing and world hypertext.
You can learn more about Ted Nelsonās life and work onĀ his personal website.
Ā
Your ticket goes towards supporting Foresight Institute’s mission to advance transformative technology towards futures beneficial to life and the biosphere.Ā If that’s not something you are currently able to contribute to, do still join. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. To benefit from sliding scale tickets,Ā reach out to us.Ā
To prep, you can refresh your memory with this short video on Xanadu Basics
Foresight Institute, and generously hosted byĀ Academia.edu.
Academia.edu: Guided by a mission to accelerate the worldās research, Academia.edu aims to make every academic paper ever published available for free online and accessible by anyone. The platform now has over 75 million global users and hosts over 23 million academic papers. Academia.edu was founded in 2008 in San Francisco by Richard Price who recognized the need for open access of scholarly work while he was a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Oxford University.
Foresight Institute, your favorite non-profit steering technologies of fundamental importance towards futures of Existential Hope,Ā focusing on molecular machine nanotechnology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence.
Learn about future Foresight events via ourĀ Newsletter.
WatchĀ all previous Strenghtening CivilizationĀ salons.
Ā
>> If you find this content valuable,Ā you mayĀ use this link to share this email. <<
Ā
Join our movement!Ā Follow ourĀ Facebook page,Ā TwitterĀ or connect to ourĀ professional network on LinkedinĀ for regular updates, as well as invites to our upcoming events.Ā To get an overview of the different ways to accelerate our mission, we created aĀ one-pager on Getting Involved.Ā
That said, one of the ways that you can most immediately help is to support our mission financially. For a detailed summary of what your donations accomplish, see ourĀ Progress Report for 2018: Accomplishments and concrete 2019 plans.
Thank you,
Foresight InstituteĀ
Ā
>> If you find this content valuable,Ā you can use this link to share this email. <<
