so you're saying if those SPECIFIC people didn't exist we wouldn't have modern computers. I know Hacker News suffers from an extreme case of hero worship / cult

so you're saying if those SPECIFIC people didn't exist we wouldn't have modern computers. I know Hacker News suffers from an extreme case of hero worship / cult of personality but I can't agree that technology and more generally progress works that way. Every new development is child of its time, talented people HAVE to meet with opportunity to generate extraordinary results, but I don't think Alan Kay is any more extraordinary as a human than anyone I work with, he just had an above average opportunity available to him and he seized it. Same for Page/Brin, find someone as smart as they were and try starting Google now, I bet it's not gonna go the same way.