Where Wizards Stay Up Late

00:06 - 00:43 The launch of Sputnik in 1957 did more than mark the beginning of the space race. It marked the start of new ways of thinking about technology. In the United States, it raised fears of falling behind in science, especially in the emerging fields of space and missile technology. Sputnik, meaning both satellite but also fellow traveler in Russian, led President Eisenhower to push for the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, an organization tasked with ensuring that America would never again be caught off guard on the technological frontier.

00:43 - 01:20 ARPA's initial mission in 1958 was to cut through the intense rivalry among the Army, Navy, and Air Force over research, funding, and development programs. This would ensure a swift and unified response to the Soviet technological threat. The agency was designed to be a high-level mechanism, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense, intended to prevent the United States from ever being technologically surprised again. But by the early 1960s, ARPA's mission shifted to focus less on military services and more towards supporting long-term basic research.

01:20 - 01:51 This was in part due to the creation of NASA, which absorbed many of its space and missile programs, but also due to the influence of individuals such as Joseph Licklider. Lick, as he was affectionately known, was director of ARPA's IPTO, short for Information Processing Techniques Office. a division created to explore advanced computer systems and their potential military applications. But he was a strong believer that computers could and would transcend these narrow purposes.