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Don’t worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Alan Kay

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
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
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
ALAN KAY

Best Future Invent Predict Way
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
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
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
Knowledge is silver. Outlook is gold. IQ is a lead weight.
ALAN KAY

Gild Knowledge Lead Outlook Silver Weight
Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.
ALAN KAY

Eighty Perspective Point Worth
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
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
It’s all about long-term, sustaining relationships.
ALAN KAY

Long Relationship Sustained Term
Computer literacy is a contact with the activity of computing deep enough to make the computational equivalent of reading and writing fluent and enjoyable.
ALAN KAY

Activity Computational Computer Contact Deep Enjoy Enough Equipment Fluent Literacy Make Read 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
Basic would never have surfaced because there was always a language better than Basic for that purpose.
ALAN KAY

Always Basic Better Language Purpose Surface
Much of the debugging has to be done by others.
ALAN KAY

Debugging Done Much Other
When the Mac first came out, Newsweek asked me what I [thought] of it. I said: Well, it’s the first personal computer worth criticizing.
ALAN KAY

Ask Came Computer Criticizing First Mac Newsweek Out Personal Thought

Don’t worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

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Don’t worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

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Popular Authors

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