Through the Markov Monkey we begin to more deeply appreciate the potential of the computer as a _second self_ – a Semantic Network that emerged from us, but is no longer held within us. One that helps us to significantly accelerate our rate of learning, particularly as these second networks become intertwined in others in an emergent internet-enabled noosphere.
This potential was first hinted at by Vannevar Bush, but it was J. C. R. Licklider, a sociologist, who specifically imagined this new potential with computers. He called this relationship the man-computer symbiosis 
.
His work inspired the work of Doug Engelbart, the man who not only invented the computer mouse but inspired others to seek the potential of the computer not simply as a computing device, but as an interactive and creative one.
One of those he inspired was Alan Kay, who envisioned this new potential not only through a windows-based graphical interface but, more importantly, a new graphical-based system, his team creating the experience of the personal computer we use today.
It was the computer language he invented to bring this system to life, Smalltalk, that inspired Ward to create the federated wiki as a computer-enabled playground for the creative imagination – one that sought to breathe new life into Licklider's original aspiration, not for _artificial intelligence (AI)_, but for _intelligence amplification (IA)_.
We are only beginning to walk into this new potential.
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