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Yeah, I guess Marvin Minsky wasn't aware of Technic and Mindstorms. I largely attribute my "inventiveness" to my childhood obsession with LEGO. I had Erector s

Yeah, I guess Marvin Minsky wasn't aware of Technic and Mindstorms. I largely attribute my "inventiveness" to my childhood obsession with LEGO. I had Erector set (actually "Meccano"), but preferred LEGO/Technic because they just snapped together, you didn't have to spend time screwing a bunch of tiny nuts and bolts together. The feedback loop was shorter. I also had some other construction toys like Capsela. I don't think I had Tinker Toys, but they seem much more simplistic. By middle school Technic were the only LEGO sets I was interested in (unfortunately Mindstorms came later, but I had one of it's predecessors, Technic Control Center).

nicklaf 10y ago
Yeah, I guess Marvin Minsky wasn't aware of Technic and Mindstorms Which would be somewhat amazing, given Mindstorm's pedigree.
- kbouck 10y ago
  That would be amazing considering his relation to Seymour Papert [1], who: - Co-invented Logo Programming language - Authored "Mindstorms" [1] - Collaborated with Lego to produce (Logo-programmable) Lego Mindstorms. - Was made co-director of the MIT AI Lab by...... Marvin Minsky [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Papert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Papert [2] https://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerful-Ideas/dp/0465046746/ https://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerfu...
icebraining 10y ago
LEGO does have Technic, but it's a small and relatively unpopular subset of the whole universe, hence he may still be right. And the rest of LEGO not only has less of an emphasis in machines, as it also comes with minifigs and other components that can be used for more typical "roleplaying with dolls/action figures" over construction.
jfroma 10y ago
Prod owner of a capsele too. I didnt have Legos when I was a kid but loved so much my capsela. I wrote a blogpost about it and the positive effect on my career: http://joseoncode.com/2012/02/01/capsela-the-game-that-changed-my-life/ http://joseoncode.com/2012/02/01/capsela-the-game-that-chang... Original post in hn: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8797905 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8797905
gohrt 10y ago
Technic and Mindstorms are absurdly expensive compared to TinkerToys, and I think pricier than Meccano. I don't know that LEGO really pushed out TinkerToys though. He's right that LEGO is rather inflexible, as far as building structures and mechanisms. You need to mix in non-LEGO materials to build simple machines.
- 6stringmerc 10y ago
  I think one of the under appreciated things about LEGO though is that because they don't actually function as machines, the child's imagination is engaged to do the rest of the leg work. Just like any other mental function, it needs development and exercise too.

nicklaf 10y ago

Yeah, I guess Marvin Minsky wasn't aware of Technic and Mindstorms Which would be somewhat amazing, given Mindstorm's pedigree.

kbouck 10y ago
That would be amazing considering his relation to Seymour Papert [1], who: - Co-invented Logo Programming language - Authored "Mindstorms" [1] - Collaborated with Lego to produce (Logo-programmable) Lego Mindstorms. - Was made co-director of the MIT AI Lab by...... Marvin Minsky [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Papert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Papert [2] https://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerful-Ideas/dp/0465046746/ https://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerfu...

icebraining 10y ago

LEGO does have Technic, but it's a small and relatively unpopular subset of the whole universe, hence he may still be right. And the rest of LEGO not only has less of an emphasis in machines, as it also comes with minifigs and other components that can be used for more typical "roleplaying with dolls/action figures" over construction.

jfroma 10y ago

Prod owner of a capsele too. I didnt have Legos when I was a kid but loved so much my capsela. I wrote a blogpost about it and the positive effect on my career: http://joseoncode.com/2012/02/01/capsela-the-game-that-changed-my-life/ http://joseoncode.com/2012/02/01/capsela-the-game-that-chang... Original post in hn: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8797905 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8797905

gohrt 10y ago

Technic and Mindstorms are absurdly expensive compared to TinkerToys, and I think pricier than Meccano. I don't know that LEGO really pushed out TinkerToys though. He's right that LEGO is rather inflexible, as far as building structures and mechanisms. You need to mix in non-LEGO materials to build simple machines.

6stringmerc 10y ago
I think one of the under appreciated things about LEGO though is that because they don't actually function as machines, the child's imagination is engaged to do the rest of the leg work. Just like any other mental function, it needs development and exercise too.