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When I first prepared this particular talk…

Alan Kay

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

After Anything Born Invent Technology
Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.
ALAN KAY

Complex Possible Simple Thing
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

Amass Communication General Last Medium Naive Surgeon Television Warning World
There will be always unresolved ambiguity here.
ALAN KAY

Always Ambiguity
School is basically about one point of view — the one the teacher has or the textbooks have.
ALAN KAY

Basic Battle One Point School Teacher Textbook View
I hired finishers because I’m a good starter and a poor finisher.
ALAN KAY

Finisher Good Hire Poor Starter
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
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
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
Lisp isn’t a language, it’s a building material.
ALAN KAY

Buil Language Lips Material
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
If the pros at Sun had had a chance to fix Java, the world would be a much more pleasant place.
ALAN KAY

Chance Fix Java More Much Place Pleasant Pros Sun World
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
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
The hard nerds are the ones who used to have the slide rules at their belt; now they have calculators.
ALAN KAY

Belt Calculator Hard Nerd One Rule Slide Use

When I first prepared this particular talk…

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When I first prepared this particular talk…

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