The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Since it is so important, I quote both the message and publication list by Paul Baran – Wikipedia from [WayBack] 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 lay… – Edward Morbius – Google+:

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

• LSI: The Basic Module for New Communication Networks 1968
• Binary Coded Gun Barrels to Discourage Illegal Use of Small Arms 1968
• On the Engineer’s Responsibility in Protecting Privacy 1968
• A Closed Circuit TV System for the Visually Handicapped 1968
• Communication Policy Issues for the Coming Computer Utility. 1968
• On the Future Computer Era: Modification of the American Character and the Role of the Engineer, or, A Little Caution in the Haste to Number 1968
• Some Changes in Information Technology Affecting Marketing in the Year 2000 1968
• The Coming Computer Utility — Laissez-Faire, Licensing, or Regulation? 1967
• Some Caveats on the Contribution of Technology to Law Enforcement 1967
• Remarks on the Question of Privacy Raised by the Automation of Mental Health Records 1967
• Some Remarks on Digital Distributed Communications Networks 1967
• Urban Node in the Information Network 1967
• A Briefing on the Distributed Adaptive Message-Block Network 1965
• Coverage Estimates of FM, TV and Power Facilities Useful in a Broadband Distributed Network 1962
• On Distributed Communications Networks 1962
• A Digital Simulation of an Aided Adaptive Character Reading Machine 1960
• An Aided Adaptive Character Reader for Machine Translation of Languages 1960
• On a Distributed Command and Control System Configuration 1960
• Reliable Digital Communications Systems Using Unreliable Network Repeater Nodes 1960

Defining the Internet (Series of 11 papers)

• On Distributed Communications: Summary Overview 1964
• On Distributed Communications: I. Introduction to Distributed Communications Networks 1964
• On Distributed Communications: II. Digital Simulation of Hot-Potato Routing in a Broadband Distributed Communications Network 1964
• On Distributed Communications: IV. Priority, Precedence, and Overload 1964
• On Distributed Communications: V. History, Alternative Approaches, and Comparisons 1964
• On Distributed Communications: VI. Mini-Cost Microwave 1964
• On Distributed Communications: VII. Tentative Engineering Specifications and Preliminary Design for a High-Data-Rate Distributed Network
• Switching Node 1964
• On Distributed Communications: VIII. The Multiplexing Station 1964
• On Distributed Communications:: IX. Security, Secrecy, and Tamper-Free Considerations 1964
• On Distributed Communications: X. Cost Estimate 1964

(The third text in the series is by J.W. Smith:
On Distributed Communications: III. Determination of Path-Lengths in a Distributed Network
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM3578.html )https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/b/baran_paul.html

References:

• [WayBack] Paul Baran | RAND
• [WayBack] On Distributed Communications: III. Determination of Path-Lengths in a Distributed Network | RAND
• RAND Corporation – Wikipedia

Via: [WayBack] 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 lay… – Jürgen Christoffel – Google+

Thoughts on the social implications of the Internet? 50 years ago? I’d hope some people had learned from them …

–jeroen