An Interview with Computing Pioneer Alan Kay

http://techland.time.com/2013/04/02/an-interview-with-computing-pioneer-alan-kay/

by technologizer • 13 years ago

91 35 13 years ago

techland.time.com

waterlesscloud• 13 years ago

"There was always a “cloud” in the ARPA view of things — this is why we invented the networks we did."

All part of the plan.

bitwize• 13 years ago

The "cloud" is overhyped precisely because if you scratch off the marketing, what you're left with is just another word for the internet.

I suppose it's a better metaphor than "cyberspace", but still...

simonh• 13 years ago

I think it's still useful to draw a distinction between humans using the internet through browsers, and applications using the internet to access services.

Of course applications accessing services through a network has always been part of the plan, but the shift from predominantly using services on the company network towards building businesses based on outsources services on external networks is an important one.

I can see why someone like Kay would find the current 'gosh wow' breathlessness about cloud computing a bit sad, but even if it would have been nice for this transition to have happened decades ago, it doesn't change the fact it's still an important and disruptive transition.

DanBC• 13 years ago

The cloud is overhyped because we're not using Plan9.

scott_s3• 13 years ago

To me, "cloud" is the growing phenomenon of removing the need for individuals and organizations to own their own hardware. That's quite different from the existing network of networks.

nlawalker• 13 years ago

I'd say it's not modern computing he's unhappy with, but modern people.

asveikau• 13 years ago

OK, he was pretty grumpy and cynical. But is he wrong?

Wouldn't a society of people who are reading and writing, thinking and creating be a better place than one where people are capable of no better than SMS-speak and TLDR and letting Siri do their thinking? What if our society turns into YouTube comments?

zwieback• 13 years ago

I think the reality is that there's always a group of people who are creators and thinkers and the vast majority just wants to be entertained. People like Alan Kay are hoping to somehow convert the majority to be more creative.

huherto• 13 years ago

I personally read and think too much. There is a point where it is useless, it is just a form of entertainment.

I wish I created more.

ricardobeat2• 13 years ago

Our society is youtube comments, SMS-speak and TLDR. It's a much bigger challenge to change people and culture, than technology.

There is nothing today in the way of being creative and intellectual. Everyone has free access to mountains of knowledge a librarian couldn't dream of 30 years ago. Technology is cheap, ubiquitous and powerful. Blaming our cultural failures on a couple commercial license terms is just deflecting the guilt.

sodomizer2• 13 years ago

You mean... Huxley was right?

alexjeffrey• 13 years ago

I'm a little disappointed that the interview didn't mention COLA/STEPS as I think this is by far the most interesting thing Kay has worked on of recent. Obviously he's been an innovator throughout the history of computing and it makes sense to interview him abotu the overall direction of the industry, but it'd be great to hear about COLA especially as there's very little written about it aimed at a non-academic audience.

http://www.vpri.org/vp_wiki/index.php/Main_Page is the primary resource about COLA at the moment, if you're curious.

jcr• 13 years ago

His work on Squeak [1], a dialect of Smalltalk, qualifies as both recent and interesting. Similar could be said for his work on OLPC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeak

ricardobeat2• 13 years ago

    Apple with the iPad and iPhone goes even further and does 
    not allow children to download an Etoy made by another 
    child somewhere in the world.

Kids can publish native apps if they want to, there are plenty of examples around. But regardless, you can share anything over the web. What about Android? Does it "not allow children to download etoys" too? This is pure vitriol.

tensor• 13 years ago

I'm not sure what an "etoy" is, but I imagine it's essentially a program and associated source code (e.g. so that you can learn from it). iOS bans, for no reason, compilers or interpretors. Android allows for these. The majority of children will not be publishing native apps.

mmariani• 13 years ago

Check this out...

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/codea/id439571171 https://github.com/TwoLivesLeft/Codea-Runtime

pjmlp3• 13 years ago

Is an evolution of the Smalltalk environment tailored for children.

protomyth2• 13 years ago

I wonder how he proposes to verify the Etoy was made by a child and not harmful or containing "scary" content?

It all was an amazing vision, but the problem is link bait headlines, spammers, and politicians who run committees. In a world where someone had to write a "penis detector", the visions loses some of its shine.

alberich2• 13 years ago

hm, does the iphone/ipad (as they are today) prevent people from being victim of link baits, spam, and stuff like that?

If not... I don't see your point.

abecedarius2• 13 years ago

There's a Squeak for Android. In iOS you're forbidden to run any programs except through the blessed interpreters (the app store and webkit). I'm sure you know this.

Added: "if we wanted to get Squeak itself into the App Store we would have to cripple it." -- http://forum.world.st/Squeak-VM-for-iPad-Current-progress-td...

jes5199• 13 years ago

We should be doing this stuff in the browser, where it's unregulated

pjmlp3• 13 years ago

Compared with what Smalltalk allows as development environment, iOS is very far away from the original idea from Alan Kay.

thewarrior• 13 years ago

    "much of the iPad UI is very poor in a myriad of ways."

Why does he say this ?

reeses2• 13 years ago

Alan Kay is 74, despite the fact that he looks 20 years younger. A couple grad students should follow him around 24/7 with a microphone, a tablet computer, and a digital camera and record any ideas he throws out there. He's like the Phillip K. Dick of computer science. He's shaped much of the perception of the world and his weakest works somehow surface 15-20 years later as tacit assumptions.

An Interview with Computing Pioneer Alan Kay

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