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Television should be the last mass communication medium to be naively designed and put into the world without a surgeon-general’s warning.

Alan Kay

But Basic happened to be on a GE timesharing system that was done by Dartmouth, and when GE decided to franchise that, it started spreading Basic around just because it was there, not because it had any intrinsic merits whatsoever.
ALAN KAY

Around Basic Decide Done Franchise Happen Spread Timeshare
I realized that my usual approach is usually critical. That is, a lot of the things that I do, that most people do, are because they hate something somebody else has done, or they hate that something hasn’t been done.
ALAN KAY

Approach Done Hate Most People Realize Someone Something Usually
In success there’s a tendency to keep on doing what you were doing.
ALAN KAY

Do Doing Kept Success Tendency
Quite a few people have to believe something is normal before it becomes normal – a sort of ‘voting’ situation.
ALAN KAY

Before Believe Few Norma People Quite Situation Something Sort Vote
Art also has this element. Our job is to remind us that there are more contexts than the one that we’re in – the one that we think is reality.
ALAN KAY

Context Element Job More One Really Remind Think
In our society we have hard nerds and soft nerds.
ALAN KAY

Hard Nerd Society Soft
When I first prepared this particular talk…
ALAN KAY

First Particular Prepare Talk
I hired finishers because I’m a good starter and a poor finisher.
ALAN KAY

Finisher Good Hire Poor Starter
It’s all about long-term, sustaining relationships.
ALAN KAY

Long Relationship Sustained Term
Every technology really needs to be shipped with a special manual – not how to use it but why, when, and for what.
ALAN KAY

Every Technology How Manual Need Ship Special Use
Most creativity is a transition from one context into another where things are more surprising.
ALAN KAY

Another Context Creativity Most Mst Surprise Thing Transition
I fear – as far as I can tell – that most undergraduate degrees in computer science these days are basically Java vocational training.
ALAN KAY

Basically Far Jar Java Program Tell Undergraduate Vocational
Much of the debugging has to be done by others.
ALAN KAY

Debugging Done Much Other
Technology is anything invented after you were born, everything else is just stuff.
ALAN KAY

After Anything Born Invent Technology
Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves.
ALAN KAY

Brick Brute Country Force Million Most Much Pyramid Slave Software Thousand Today Very
And to the extent that we do not violate any known laws of the universe, we can probably make it work the way that we want to.
ALAN KAY

Extent Known Probably Universe Violate Way

Television should be the last mass communication medium to be naively designed and put into the world without a surgeon-general’s warning.

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Television should be the last mass communication medium to be naively designed and put into the world without a surgeon-general’s warning.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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