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by Bill McTeer 
... Who will replace Earl as our anti-cynic?
It was sad to hear of Earl Joseph's recent passing. Many of us in
the Twin Cities technology circles knew Earl as a visionary
and as a friend. He mentored us, challenged us, led us, and educated
us. I think, for a lot of us, he became our
“Technology Dad”.
Earl was a strong supporter and participant in professional
associations. In addition to three presentations at MnIPS, and
creating cartoons for the MnIPS newsletter for five years,
Earl was a founder and served as a director of the Minnesota
Futurists; the founding Chairman of the Minnesota Computer
Industry Coalition (MCIC); member of the IEEE, ACM, American
Association for the Advancement of Science, Robotics Section
of Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Society for General
Systems Research and the founding president of its Minnesota's
chapter. He was President of the Twin Cities chapter of the
ACM for 1976/77 and 1986/87; Co-Program Chairman of the 1981
Society for General Systems Research International Conference;
General Chairman for the national ACM 75 conference, and the
World Futures Society’s 1991 conference “Creating the 21st
Century.” Earl was chosen to be the World Futures
Society’s 2001 Annual Conference chair.
He was the founder and Editor of the journal Futurics;
Advising Editor for the journals Futures, Human Resource
Development Quarterly, and the Journal of Cultural and
Educational Futures; Editor of the newsletter Future Trends;
Former Editor of the Systems Trends newsletter and MCIC
Newsletter; was featured worldwide on 100's of TV and radio
programs and in science fiction books. On a lighter note, Earl
was the Science Guest of Honor at the 25th anniversary meeting
of MINICON 25 (a Twin Cites Sci Fi Convention). In 1996,
during the 50th year of computers, Earl was honored with his
picture on a poster for the event.
Many of us who have met Earl in the last 20 years might not
know of his early career. He was a pioneering scientist and
management consultant. He held three computer patents; was the
systems architect of five major computer systems; authored
chapters in 50 books and had published over 500 technical,
managerial, educational, and scientific papers. Earl made over
100 presentations per year (over 4000 in his career). He has
been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Business
Week, U. S. News & World Report, Science News, and many
other national publications.
The Wall Street Journal claims Earl was the first in Corporate
America to have the title of “Futurist,” Business Week
claims he was one the first to use the phrase “smart
machine” and forecast that the central processing unit (CPU)
of computers would become a “bulge in the cable.” He was a
member of an early 1970’s team that initially studied and
outlined the design of The Internet. He convinced the Defense
Department at a Naval Academy workshop to fund the development
of Very High Speed Large Scale Integration (VLSI/VHSI) circuit
chip technology that lead to today’s chip advances.
Until 1983, Earl was with Sperry Univac for 32 years as a
computer scientist including 20 years as a staff
scientist/futurist. Earl directed and managed large complex
computer and communications projects, departments and
divisions and performed the system design, logic design,
programming and manufacture of a number of computers. The ERA
1101 computer started the computer industry in Minnesota and
Earl was its first programmer. Earl’s picture at the 1101
computer console was on a poster at the 1999 Minnesota state
fair. In 1960 Earl had in operation the first embedded
computer, now known as a “smart machine,” it was for the
Nike Zeus Multifunction Array Radar and missile detection
system for a Anti-Ballistic Missile system.
Earl was also an educator. He served as an adjunct professor
and a visiting lecturer at the University of Minnesota
designing and teaching graduate level courses on alternative
futures. He was a Walden University Professor (Management
Department), St. Thomas University Professor, and on
Metropolitan State University Faculty. He was the futurist in
residence at the Science Museum of Minnesota; a distinguished
visiting lecturer for the IEEE Computer Society; and a
lecturer for DPMA, WFS, ACM and ASM. Earl designed and taught
hundreds of university level courses in the areas of
computers, business, management, marketing, advertising, entrepreneurship, futures, and other topics. Earl taught at all
education levels; K-12, college and graduate. Earl received
the 2001 Community Connections Award from Normandy College.
I think Earl would be happy to be described as an
“enthusiast”. Technologists confer respect with
“professional”, “expert”, “guru”, “wizard”,
etc., all of which describe knowledge, not emotion. All of
those applied to Earl, but I don’t think they capture his
essence. All new technology seemed to be an exciting
opportunity to Earl. Every time I talked to him, he was jazzed
about something. That was part of what made him fun (and
challenging) to listen to as a futurist. But his optimism was
also an invitation because he had faith in our collective
ability and determination to solve the social, physical, and
conceptual problems that get in the way of technology making
the world better.
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