Alan Kay's talk at Creative Think seminar, July 20, 1982

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Alan Kay's talk at Creative Think seminar, July 20, 1982

Outline of talk: Metaphors, Magnetic Fields, Snobbery and Slogans 

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

Humans like fantasy and sharing: 
Fantasy fulfills a need for a simpler, more controllable world. 

Sharing is important - we're all communication junkies. We have an incredible bandwidth 
disparity (easy to take in, hard to give out); our devices have the reciprocal 
disparity (hard to take in, easy to give out) 

Metaphors: 
Computer as medium (like clay or paint) 
Computer as vehicle 
Computer as musical instrument 

Magnetic Fields: 
Find a central metaphor that's so good that everything aligns to it. Design meetings are 
no longer necessary, it designs itself. The metaphor should be crisp and fun. 

Smalltalk is object-oriented, but it should have been message oriented. 

Snobbery: 
Turn up your nose at good ideas. You must work on great ideas, not good ones. 

Appreciate mundanity: after all, a pencil is high technology 

One goal: the computer disappears into the environment 

The computer shouldn't act like it knows everything. 

The whole notion of 'programming language' is wrong. 

Slogans: 
Better is the enemy of best 
Relative judgements have no place in art 
Systems programmers are high priests of a low cult 
Point of view is worth 80 IQ points 
Good ideas don't often scale 

Remember, it's all software, it just depends on when you crystallize it. 

People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. 

Final advice: content over form, go for fun.