
Whole Earth Software Catalog (1984) - shrthnd
https://archive.org/details/Whole_Earth_Software_Catalog_1984_Point/
======
denimboy
We lost something when the catalog was overtaken by the search engine. With a
catalog you could aimlessly browse and passively learn a slice of what was
possible and available in some space.

Of course a catalog is edited or curated which makes it biased but maybe more
human editorial direction isn't such a bad thing in our current world of
algorithmic optimized, SEO, echo chamber, click-bait choices.

Browse-ability allows non-focesed search and informs choices that are made at
a later time from passive data gathering.

~~~
majormajor
Search engines aren't exactly "un-biased," they're just biased in more obtuse
and often-unintentional ways. The entire field of SEO exists to make it biased
in your favor.

(That's not to say SEO goes away in a catalog world - it just starts looking
like the old-fashioned human marketing still used for other channels that it
currently sits alongside.)

Influencers sit in a curious place between the two worlds. An influencer is
basically an independent (but paid and buy-able) "micro-catalog" maintainer
who is themselves exposed through an algorithmic platform.

------
bane
The late 70s and early 80s had lots of these kind of wonderful "collections of
interesting stuff" in book form. I recall a number of books like this I used
to check out of the library constantly that just seemed to ooze with a kind of
energy of things and technology and people coming together in just such a way
as to hint or suggest at a magnificent future humanity could emerge into. I
wasn't the only one who checked these books out as they were all almost
constantly checked out. One in particular was a clear offshoot I still
remember today called "The Kid's Whole Future Catalog" by Paula
Taylor...almost entirely forgotten today, but I managed to snag a copy off of
ebay.

I wish we could switch timelines in the future outlined in it.

~~~
MiroF
Stewart Brand (still alive) is the famous innovator of this sort of stuff,
starting with the Whole Earth Catalog.

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bostonpete
Wait, archive.org has scanned books?? I guess I'm only familiar with the
archive's "Wayback Machine" \-- I wasn't aware of their other offerings. This
is interesting and has a pretty good interface for browsing. Even seems to use
OCR to support search!

~~~
mannycalavera42
I've recently moved my support donations from wikipedia to archive.org after
finding it out. Amazing content and the history of web deserves more

~~~
VerDeTerre
I've donated in the past, but with the recent copyright debacle, I'm less
inclined to—not so much because I think they're clearly on the wrong side of
the law (though I do believe so), but more because it seems like such an
obvious and potentially catastrophic misjudgment. I'm fine with information
activism, even if I'm not totally on board with the full program, but not at
the expense of endangering the core mission. I don't think their actions will
yield a valuable test case, so I'd prefer to see them instead work towards
copyright reform in a more measured manner. I'll probably continue to support
them because it's such an amazing resource and so many people are doing great
work, but the leadership does not, at this time, have my confidence.

~~~
badsectoracula
What recent copyright debacle?

~~~
jmiskovic
Claiming they are library, they launched "National Emergency Library"
initiative which made 1.4M works (of which some are copyrighted) freely
available online worldwide. They have ended the program since.

[http://blog.archive.org/national-emergency-
library/](http://blog.archive.org/national-emergency-library/)

------
monkeypizza
Stewart Brand has done lots of good stuff. My favorite is the 6 part BBC
series on "How Buildings Learn". It really opened my eyes to the importance of
buildings. Very relevant to the frequent discussions here about zoning,
design, etc. But also just an amazing, clear, well-informed amateur analysis
of how the US has been doing in this field over the last 100 years.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvEqfg2sIH0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvEqfg2sIH0)

~~~
gav
The book that inspired the series is also great.

How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Buildings_Learn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Buildings_Learn)

------
bordercases
One thing that I find absolutely bonkers, is that the Whole Earth Catalogue
website, [http://www.wholeearth.com](http://www.wholeearth.com) is broken and
nothing has been done to fix it.

------
denimboy
Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities by Kevin Kelly

[https://www.amazon.com/Cool-Tools-Possibilities-Kevin-
Kelly/...](https://www.amazon.com/Cool-Tools-Possibilities-Kevin-
Kelly/dp/1940689007)

is a worthy successor to Whole Earth Catalog in both content and spirit.

------
Theodores
Amazed to see AutoCad is in there along with 3D applications for
visualisation.

I did not think there was much in the way of 3D software available on PCs at
such an early time. I thought workstations ruled the roost in those early days
when it came to 3D.

------
hedora
Is it just my phone, or is this completely illegible? Much of the text is tiny
dithered garbage, and pinch zooming just makes the document window turn black.

I wish they would use plain HTML or a PDF.

~~~
bane
It is HTML. And the scanned documents on the Archive can be downloaded as PDF
usually (among other formats).

------
theseanz
Page 16, from a review of the "Disposable" Commodore 64: "It works great, but
it's not destined to become a family heirloom"

~~~
jandrese
No computers of that era (or any era) are going to be heirlooms. The C64
shipped with a power supply that failed often and in a way that fried the
computer.

[https://retrogamestart.com/answers/replace-c64-power-
supply-...](https://retrogamestart.com/answers/replace-c64-power-supply-
voltage-failure-will-kill-your-c64)

------
rafaelturk
Page 34 Three Mile Island SCRAM simulator.. side-by-site with Flight Simulator

------
milquetoastaf
Perhaps also of interest to HN - the hypercard version of the Catalog!
[https://archive.org/details/the-electronic-whole-earth-
catal...](https://archive.org/details/the-electronic-whole-earth-catalog)

~~~
Stratoscope
Related discussion:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23754441](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23754441)

