Much of what you write is interesting, and I appreciate your reflection. I'd just like to qualify something about Licklider. At the time of the Man-Computer Symbiosis in 1960 computer science didn't exist as a discipline, so he wasn't writing as a computer scientist. In fact, Licklider was instrumental in the establishment of computer science as a discipline through directing funds to establish the first departments for it in the US later in the '60s. (I have 1963 in my head but could be wrong.)
A more apt descriptor for him would be cybernetician. He was an acolyte of Norbert Wiener and his man-computer symbiosis can and should be read as his attempt to resolve the conflict in Wiener's writings between humans and machines. Instead of being antagonists, they could mutually benefit from one another as partners in a symbiosis.
A more apt descriptor for him would be cybernetician. He was an acolyte of Norbert Wiener and his man-computer symbiosis can and should be read as his attempt to resolve the conflict in Wiener's writings between humans and machines. Instead of being antagonists, they could mutually benefit from one another as partners in a symbiosis.