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This is pretty cool, but, like, what’s the point? What problem is this trying to solve? How does printing hello world out of a printer with dots on it help us a
by mruts 7y ago
This is pretty cool, but, like, what’s the point? What problem is this trying to solve? How does printing hello world out of a printer with dots on it help us at all? Why would we want to align pieces of paper in order to do IO? How is this supposed to change the world like PARC or Bell Labs?
Don’t get me wrong I would love to play around with stuff. But that’s what it is, playing. Do you think any of the people who work there when working on a personal side project are like: “I can solve the problem of <foo> by printing out sheets of paper and organizing them on a table!” I would hesitate to call this project masturbation, but it comes close. Or just call it art, that would be fine too (just don’t pretend it’s going to matter all that much).
- reilly3000 7y agoBret Victors talks and essays are well worth consuming. He speaks to the limits of computing within the confines of a small rectangular screen on how people actually think and work. As an architect of iOS UX circa 2006, he's uniquely qualified to discuss UX's impact on behavior. The Humane Representation of Thought is a great place to start: https://vimeo.com/115154289 https://vimeo.com/115154289 Dynamicland is the first iteration of what he envisions with "seeing spaces" - interactive, full body computing that allows for humans to create and communicate more effectively whilst using technology that fades into the background. His personal site is sort of a tour-de-force: http://worrydream.com/ http://worrydream.com/ I think anybody who makes things that users use should spend some time there. If you just have time for one thing, check out: http://worrydream.com/#!/LadderOfAbstraction http://worrydream.com/#!/LadderOfAbstraction
- mruts 7y agoI agree that computing confined to a rectangle is limiting and stifling. The long-term solution in my mind is everyone having an AR headset. I would love to be able to project code and objects all over the room and be able to code any place anywhere. The technology clearly isn’t there yet though, so I understand dynamicland’s paper and projector model. My very very long-term dream about computing is something like nexus in the Nexus Trilogy[1]. Written by an ex-Microsoft dev, it’s a really great hard sci-fi cyberpunk take on the future of computing. Highly recommended! [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nexus_Trilogy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nexus_Trilogy