> the fetters of medieval scholasticism — a vain attempt at verbal precision & > computer science would consist mainly of the indeed black art how to bootstra

> the fetters of medieval scholasticism — a vain attempt at verbal precision & > computer science would consist mainly of the indeed black art how to bootstrap from [using only language as an interface to machines] Dijkstra was making a prophecy even though he looked (at times hypothetically) to the past. The first quote cuts through to the essential paradigm shift that led to enlightenment. The second is an apt description of what "programming" in the next decade may look like. I'll add my own little ironic prophecy: if machines do become intelligent, they will most likely use formal symbolic systems to interact with each other.