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Any medium powerful enough to extend man’s reach is powerful enough to topple his world.

Alan Kay

I had the fortune or misfortune to learn how to read fluently starting at the age of three.
ALAN KAY

Age Fluent Fortune Learn Misfortune Read Start Three
The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to be shaped and exploited.
ALAN KAY

Act Computer Exploit Language Like Machine Nature Protean Shape Such
Understanding- -like civilization, happiness, music, science and a host of other great endeavors–is not a state of being, but a manner of traveling.
ALAN KAY

Civilization Endeavour Host Manner Science Stae Traveling Understanding
Don’t worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
ALAN KAY

Anybody Do Else Is Do What Worry
People are willing to pay you if you’re any good at all, and you have plenty of time for screwing around.
ALAN KAY

Anything Else Fabulous People Place Where Will
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 Computer Degree Far Fear Java Most Science Tell Training Undergraduate Vocational
In a well functioning world, tools and agents are complementary.
ALAN KAY

Agent Complementary Function World Tool Well
The perfume part is important because it will help find the knowledge again to help get to the destinations the inner urges pick.
ALAN KAY

Destination Help Important Knowledge Perfume Pick Urge
This tends to result in very dumbed-down products that are easy to get started on, but are generally worthless and/or debilitating.
ALAN KAY

Debilitation Dumb Easy General Product Result Tend Worthless
I don’t know how many of you have ever met Dijkstra, but you probably know that arrogance in computer science is measured in nano-Dijkstras.
ALAN KAY

Arrogance Computer Ever Know Many Measure Met Nanao People Science
They don’t like the idea of having different points of view, so it was a battle.
ALAN KAY

Battle Different Idea Point View
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
The biggest problem we have as human beings is that we confuse our beliefs with reality.
ALAN KAY

Being Belief Bigots Confide Human Problem Reality
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
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
Having an intelligent secretary does not get rid of the need to read, write, and draw, etc.
ALAN KAY

Draw Have Intelligent Need Read Rid Secretary Write
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.
ALAN KAY

Complex Possible Simple Thing
There will be always unresolved ambiguity here.
ALAN KAY

Always Ambiguity
Technology is anything invented after you were born, everything else is just stuff.
ALAN KAY

After Anything Born Invent Technology
Perl is another example of filling a tiny, short-term need, and then being a real problem in the longer term.
ALAN KAY

Another Example Fill Perl Tiny
Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower.
ALAN KAY

Artificial Feel Inferior Intelligence Some People Worry
The idea that hardware on networks should just be caches for movable process descriptions and the processes themselves goes back quite a ways.
ALAN KAY

Back Catch Description Hardware Idea Movable Network Process Quiet
Java and C++ make you think that the new ideas are like the old ones.
ALAN KAY

Idea Java Make New Old One Think
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
Possibly the only real object-oriented system in working order. (About Internet)
ALAN KAY

Internet Object Only Order Oriented Possible Raed Subject System Work
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

Any medium powerful enough to extend man’s reach is powerful enough to topple his world.

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Any medium powerful enough to extend man’s reach is powerful enough to topple his world.

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