I'm sitting in our very underused kitchen garden-- i.e., the little patch of dirt outside our kitchen, which is now pleasantly overgrowing with some hardy flowers-- reading about simulation. This bit by J. C. R. Licklider, written in 1967, caught my eye:
In their dynamic form, however, computer-program models appeal to the recipient’s understanding directly through his perception of dynamic behavior. That mode of appeal is beyond the reach of ordinary documents. When we have learned how to take good advantage of it, it may—indeed, I believe it will—be the greatest boon to scientific and technical communication, and to the teaching and learning of science and technology, since the invention of writing on a flat surface.
He really was one smart guy!
[To the tune of The Police, "Every Breath You Take," from the album "Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings (Disc 4)".]
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