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Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

1401 points alankay | 4 comments | 20 Jun 16 18:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.703s | 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).
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diiq ◴[20 Jun 16 19:01 UTC] No.11940399[source]▶
As a community, we often think on quite short time-scales ("What can we build right now, for users right now, to make money asap?"). I feel like you've always been good at stepping back, and taking a longer view.

So what should a designer or a developer be doing now, to make things better in 10 years, or 100 years?

replies(1): >>11941091 #
alankay1 ◴[20 Jun 16 20:09 UTC] No.11941091[source]▶
What does the world actually need?
replies(2): >>11941968 #>>11946298 #
1. johntyree ◴[20 Jun 16 22:07 UTC] No.11941968[source]▶
Love, sweet love.
replies(1): >>11945615 #
2. alankay1 ◴[21 Jun 16 13:59 UTC] No.11945615[source]▶
And ... ????
replies(2): >>11946455 #>>11950258 #
3. mdahlstrand ◴[21 Jun 16 15:35 UTC] No.11946455[source]▶
Better tools, where "better" is the most difficult to define, but simpler is a good direction.

I see equality in computing/storage/access as another great need, but teaching the world to write javascript isn't the solution, and "AI"s which do your shopping aren't either. I'm not sure where to place or how to phrase my imagined future, but the path there isn't a slow ascend (or decline, think "phoenix" - we're slowly approaching a locked in world). Maybe what we need is inspiration, a grand vision of the new world.

We also need to look up from our phones and teach our young to understand, see and act upon the world in greater time scales, unlearn our short-sighted perspectives and teach the next generation to care for their future generations, something we're failing to do.

Edit append: We also need culture (music, arts, etc.) to help us think.

4. contingencies ◴[21 Jun 16 23:19 UTC] No.11950258[source]▶
Immediate, mutual, lucid comprehension of the shared challenges facing humanity (and our fellow beings) that lie beyond the traditional domain of both nations and weak, present-era international political bodies, so as to avoid further needless destruction and suffering. Unfortunately, so many people live on the treadmill of money that the motivational deficit perhaps must be addressed prior to the educational.