Access to Tools

       

 "The Whole Earth Catalog... was sort of like Google in paperback form,

35 years before Google came along."

-Steve Jobs

           Steve Jobs contributes some of his utmost inspiration and innovation to the "google before google", or more commonly known as the Whole Earth Catalog.

            

         This counterculture catalog was first published by Steward Brand in 1968 and ran consistently until 1972, with occasional publications until 1998. It was the first catalog of its kind that was specifically created to share the tools needed for people to find their own power and creativity.

        While the items listed in the catalog varied from clothing to tools, from books to machines, all of them followed the criteria of:

1. Useful as a tool.

2. Relevant to independent education

3. High quality or low cost.

4. Not already common knowledge.

5. Easily available by mail

 One particular item that jumped out at me, that I felt best summed up the mindset of this era, was a book written by John C. Lilly entitled Programming and Metaprogramming in the HUMAN BIOCOMPUTER: Theory and Experiments.

           Below is part of the original advertisement of the book in Whole Earth Catalog. This short blurb encompasses the self-empowering attitude of the hippies of this time. Striving to find the self and even turning to drugs to help them see different perspectives, this book thoroughly captured the hippie essence of the late 60s, early 70s. The idea of revolution through ideals and technology. Only now, Lilly's book is enabling those without the money for a computer to be part of this transformation.

           And I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Jobs stumbled upon this book back when we was young. It single handedly encapsulates his visions of the future. It is a tool that is enabling the masses to find the power in themselves to figure out who they are and what they want and allowing them to break away from the dogmas of society.