ADF – PARC

Anyone familiar with the history of computing knows that PARC is shorthand for the Palo Alto Research Center, which was founded by the Xerox Corporation in 1970. Its mission was to explore human/computer communications. This resulted in the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) interface we all use, the Smalltalk programming language, and Ethernet networking.

In the novel American Democracy Forever, Charlie decided he wanted to own PARC so that he could direct its efforts based on his Life 1 memories of the next 50 years of technological advances. He was confident he would reap enormous financial rewards. His first thought was to buy PARC from Xerox, but in 1968, it hadn’t been created yet and therefore hadn’t even begun its research. So, Charlie decided to start it on his own, two years sooner than Xerox would have. His goal was to get a head start on the technology he knew was coming, especially software development for the internet.

Charlie earned a doctorate in Computer Science from Stanford, so he was able to attract top technical talent, including Alan Kay, the leader of the Smalltalk project, and Douglas Englebart, the originator of the Augment human interface project. He enjoyed working with the PARC engineering teams, but always as a gadfly, someone who asked pointed questions in a friendly, helpful manner.

Charlie had another reason for creating PARC. He wanted an in-house software R&D lab for the creation of OurTown, a social media platform tailored to the needs of the Forum Clubs. He remembered the Life 1 problems Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms created in American society; how hackers had subverted them to promote lies and disinformation; how the Russians had exploited their vulnerabilities to support the election of Donald Trump as president.

Questions

If you had a decades-long head start on technology and the resources to exploit it, what would you do? Would you push computing, space tech, or green energy? Would you want to protect the biosphere? What would you do about climate change?