Douglas Engelbart thinks that improving the way we relate to information can solve urgent problems in the world.

In a talk to the Technology and Policy Program here at MIT, Engelbart shared how his personal goal of boosting the human capability for coping with world problems drove his careear.

Most notably, he spoke on how it's not enough to match the fit between tools and human factors--on a more fundamental level, it's also essential that both work effectively with basic human abilities. Accroding to Engelbart, these include: sensory, perceptual, motor, and mental skills.

This seems very appropriate coming from the creator of the mouse. Engelbart has a broader vision about how navigating and displaying information can improve out abilities to cope with big problems. He's got specific ideas: Collective intelligence, open hyperdocument systems, and a project called HyperScope.

Engelbart seems bang-on with a number of these ideas, which relate to his work with hypertext in the past. Some of these ideas echo existing applications. For instance, I've always thought it was cool how the New York Times website supplies definitions for any word you double click on in an article.