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

Alan Kay

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
An important technology first creates a problem and then solves it.
ALAN KAY

Create First Important Problem Solve Technology
A new friend is new wine, when it grows old, you will enjoy drinking it.
ALAN KAY

Drink Enjoy Friend Grow New Now Old Wine
Bad criticism drives good criticism out of circulation. You just can’t criticize anything.
ALAN KAY

Anything Bad Criticism Good Out
There is the desire of a consumer society to have no learning curves.
ALAN KAY

Consumer Curve Desire Learn Society
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 Internet was done so well that most people think of it as a natural resource like the Pacific Ocean, rather than something that was man-made.
ALAN KAY

Internet Man Made Most Natural Ocean Pacific People Resource Something Think
Change is easy, except for the changed part.
ALAN KAY

Change Easy Except Part
To get the medium’s magic to work for one’s aims rather than against them is to attain literacy.
ALAN KAY

Against Aim Attain Literacy Magic Medium Rather Work
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
Because the web has produced so much uninformed criticism. It’s kind of a Gresham’s Law-bad money drives the good money out of circulation.
ALAN KAY

Circulation Good Kind Money Out Produce Uniform
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
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
So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world.
ALAN KAY

Eight End Five Inch iPhone Presentation ule World
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
Humans are communications junkies. We just can’t get enough.
ALAN KAY

Communication Enough Get Human Junkie

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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