Colloquium Archive

Creative solutions to difficult problems are often retrospectively honored in our society (when the solution works). But there is also a mystery that seems to surround the process, and many think one must passively wait for inspiration to "strike". Many examples abound that show the Steps to creativity can be enhanced and even manipulated, and the examples come from programming, and from science. This talk is about those examples, and the generalizations that can be derived from them. One generalization: Very high intelligence is not a requisite, but there is one behavioral traitthat is absolutely necessary.

Long ago, out on a prairie far, far away . . . back before PCs, the Internet, AOL, the Web, and USENET existed, back before Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Case, and Scott McNeally had even graduated from high school, a rich, vibrant online culture was already booming at the University of Illinois, an online world complete with open-source hacking, email, message forums, Slashdot-like news blogs, chat, instant messaging, MUDs, and other intense multiplayer games. How could this be? Come to this presentation and learn all about the research Brian Dear has been undertaking for a book on the history of PLATO: the legendary and profoundly-influential system whose saga has long been overshadowed by the stories of ARPANET, Xerox PARC, and Silicon Valley. In this session, we'll explore a wide range of topics including: the quirky system architecture of PLATO; gas-plasma flat-panel displays (originally invented for PLATO); the origins of Lotus Notes (descended from PLATO Notes); the story of CERL (the PLATO laboratory that predates PARC by three years); and how numerous PC games (including Flight Simulator, Wizardry, FreeCell, CastleWolfenstein) all descend from PLATO.