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Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

1401 points alankay | 1 comments | 20 Jun 16 18:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.263s | 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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kgr ◴[21 Jun 16 21:57 UTC] No.11949750[source]▶
Hi Alan,

In your paper "A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages", where you introduce the concept of the DynaBook, you explicitly say that the paper should be read as a work of science fiction. I understand that you're a big fan of science fiction. Do you draw any inspiration from science fiction when inventing the future?

Thanks,

Kevin

Related: I've given a talk on "What Computer Scientists can Learn From Science Fiction":

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CaieHjx9j24UFXq0GwmC...

replies(1): >>11953667 #
1. alankay1 ◴[22 Jun 16 13:24 UTC] No.11953667[source]▶
I was a big fan of science fiction in the 40s and 50s -- pretty much literally "read everything" -- and tapered off in the 60s -- partly because science was taking more of my time than science fiction, and partly because in many areas science and technology over-ran sci-fi, and partly because my favorite authors were writing less (and writing less good stuff).