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Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.

Alan Kay

The real romance is out ahead and yet to come. The computer revolution hasn’t started yet.
ALAN KAY

Ahead Come Out Real Romance Yet
If you’re not failing 90% of the time, then you’re probably not working on sufficiently challenging problems.
ALAN KAY

Challenge Fall Probably Problem Sufficient Time Work
So I had read maybe 150 books by the time I hit 1st grade. And I already knew that the teachers were lying to me.
ALAN KAY

Already Amybe Book Grade Lie Read Teacher Time
Knowledge is silver. Outlook is gold. IQ is a lead weight.
ALAN KAY

Gild Knowledge Lead Outlook Silver Weight
Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we’re all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories.
ALAN KAY

Boardroom Briefcase Cavemen Hungry Just Person Scratch Surface Typical Wise
The flip side of the coin was that even good programmers and language designers tended to do terrible extensions when they were in the heat of programming, because design is something that is best done slowly and carefully.
ALAN KAY

Best Careful Coin Designer Even Extension Flip Good Heat Language Programme Side Tend Terrible
I think the trick with knowledge is to “acquire it, and forget all except the perfume” – because it is noisy and sometimes drowns out one’s own “brain voices”.
ALAN KAY

Acquire All Except Forget Knowledge Perfume Think Trick
A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. Perspective is worth 80 IQ points. Point of view is worth 80 IQ points
ALAN KAY

Change Eighty Perspective Point Worth
But once the threshold is reached, then everyone demands to do whatever it is.
ALAN KAY

Demand Everyone Once Reach Threshold
Bad criticism drives good criticism out of circulation. You just can’t criticize anything.
ALAN KAY

Anything Bad Criticism Good Out
And I realized that informed criticism has completely been done in by the web.
ALAN KAY

Been Completely Criticise Done Inform Realize
I’ve heard complaints from even mighty Stanford University with its illustrious faculty that basically the undergraduate computer science program is little more than Java certification.
ALAN KAY

Certification Complain Heard Illustrious Java Program Science Undergraduate University
This is not secret knowledge. It’s just secret to this pop culture.
ALAN KAY

Culture Knowledge Pop Secret
That language was Joss, which predated Basic and was beautiful.
ALAN KAY

Basic Beautiful Joss Language Predate
It is not a tool, although it can act like many tools. It is the first metamedium, and as such it has degrees of freedom for representation and expression never before encountered and as yet barely investigated.
ALAN KAY

Bare Degree Encourage First Freedom Investigation Metamedium Representation Tool
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

Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.

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Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.

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