The tree of research must be fed from time to time with the blood of bean-counters, for it is its natural manure. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Most creativity is a transition from one context into another where things are more surprising. There’s an element of surprise, and especially… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
I fear - as far as I can tell - that most undergraduate degrees in computer science these days are basically Java… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Science requires a society because even people who are trying to be good thinkers love their own thoughts and theories - much… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Understanding- -like civilization, happiness, music, science and a host of other great endeavors--is not a state of being, but a manner of… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
I fear - as far as I can tell - that most undergraduate degrees in computer science these days are basically Java… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
I don't know how many of you have ever met Dijkstra, but you probably know that arrogance in computer science is measured… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Computer science inverts the normal. In normal science, you're given a world, and your job is to find out the rules. In… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
In the commercial world, you have this problem that the amount of research you can do in a company is based on… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
In our society we have hard nerds and soft nerds. The hard nerds are the ones who used to have the slide rules at… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
As far as Apple goes, it was a different company every few years from the time I joined in 1984. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
When I first prepared this particular talk... I realized that my usual approach is usually critical. That is, a lot of the things that… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Quite a few people have to believe something is normal before it becomes normal - a sort of 'voting' situation. But once the threshold… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Every technology really needs to be shipped with a special manual - not how to use it but why, when and for what. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
Java and C++ make you think that the new ideas are like the old ones. Java is the most distressing thing to hit computing… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
It's hard to change information in books, but if we have everything online, then a somewhat untrustworthy group of people controlling the thing -… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
The tree of research must be fed from time to time with the blood of bean-counters, for it is its natural manure. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
I think the trick with knowledge is to “acquire it, and forget all except the perfume” - because it is noisy and sometimes drowns… — Alan Kay Copy Share Image
