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Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

1401 points alankay | 2 comments | 20 Jun 16 18:04 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

This request originated via recent discussions on HN, and the forming of HARC! at YC Research. I'll be around for most of the day today (though the early evening).
1. 0xdeadbeefbabe ◴[20 Jun 16 18:50 UTC] No.11940295[source]▶
Well what is thinking about then? What was the mistake the greeks made? In this video[0] you said thinking is not about logic and that was the mistake the greeks made.

[0] https://youtu.be/N9c7_8Gp7gI?t=45m45s

replies(1): >>11940727 #
2. alankay1 ◴[20 Jun 16 19:35 UTC] No.11940727[source]▶
It's basically confusing "math" (which they had and like all of us were overwhelmed by how neat it is and how much you can do with "thinking rationally") with "science" which they didn't really have. "Math" is hermetic and Science is a negotiation between our representation systems and "What's out there?"

I.e. it is really difficult (didn't happen) to guess the "self-evident" principles and operations that will allow you to deduce the universe. And being super-rational without science is one of the most dangerous things humans have come up with.