Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework Alive

Written as a research framework for the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the report proposed that computers should augment human capability to solve complex problems — 'augmentation' as engineering goal rather than automation. It covered knowledge representation, hypertext, collaboration, and display systems in one argument.

Engelbart spent the next six years building it: the NLS system demoed in December 1968 included the mouse, windows, hypertext links, video conferencing, and collaborative editing — a quarter-century of computing previewed in 90 minutes.