Paul Baran’s entire catalogue of RAND publications available for free download
A few days ago I’d discovered Paul Baran’s work at RAND, not only in laying out the technical case and specification for what became the Internet (Baran is the father of packet-switched networks), but concerning the second-order implications, including social and privicy implications, of the technology. This during the 1960s, so, the next time someone asks you rhetorically “but who could have forseen the negative side of this”, you can answer: “Paul Baran, the man who invented it, over fifty years ago”.
And yes, some engineers are highly cognisant of the societal implications of their work.
I’d been both delighted to find Baran’s work and frustrated that some items were missing, so I wrote RAND asking if they might possibly add the others. I was told “yes”, though no schedule was given so I hoped it might appear in a few months.
It was a few days.
I’m delighted, and hope others will also appreciate these foundational and insightful works.
The writings are available as high-quality PDF scans.
The title listing, below, shows the breadth of Baran’s thinking. His work on second-order and negative effects is also continued by one of the organisations he went on to found, the Institute for the Future, which has weighed in on the fake news / propaganda issue recently. Baran himself died in 2011.
My thanks to RAND.
And a reminder that sometimes you can get what you want by asking nicely.
Titles
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 