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If DHH decided to tweak Alan Kay's quote (changing "invent" to "implement") and attribute it to himself, well, that's bullshit. You can safely assume he didn't

by pg 18y ago

If DHH decided to tweak Alan Kay's quote (changing "invent" to "implement") and attribute it to himself, well, that's bullshit. You can safely assume he didn't.

jhancock 18y ago
Can anyone recall the quote I was looking for? It had something to do with how the brightest minds are being wasted and aren't working on the most interesting problems. I could even be wrong about it being a Kay quote, but I think so. thanks HN, I figure if someone here doesn't know, maybe someone can call Kay and ask him ;)
- Hexstream 18y ago
  I have one very related quote, though by Greenspun, not Kay: "We will live in a society where the best educated engineers are not designing anti-lock brakes. They are either managing comparatively poorly educated people who are designing anti-lock brakes, stitching up wounds in people who were injured by faulty anti-lock brakes, or defending companies that got sued for their anti-lock brake systems that didn't work." from http://philip.greenspun.com/school/tuition-free-mit.html http://philip.greenspun.com/school/tuition-free-mit.html
  - jhancock 18y ago
    thanks. that's a nice one. The Kay quote is along those lines. I'll know it when I see it. It will be odd if it turns up and its not Kay ;)...I think so though.
    - kirubakaran 18y ago
      You may also want to google grim meathook future
  - nomoresecrets 18y ago
    Reminds me of one of my favourite quotes from John Carmack: "I feel bad for some companies out there. The founders, who are these incredible engineers, are now directors of their departments doing management rather than engineering. At the same time most of the people they are managing are nowhere near as good as they were at doing the actual work."
tlrobinson 18y ago
As far as I can tell, this "interview" is where the "implement" version of the quote originated: http://www.stifflog.com/2006/10/16/stiff-asks-great-programmers-answer/ http://www.stifflog.com/2006/10/16/stiff-asks-great-programm... If it's legitimate then it seems DHH is guilty as charged.
- mechanical_fish 18y ago
  Huh? Here's the relevant section from the page you link to, in full: David Heinemeier Hansson: [in response to a question] I try not to predict the future. I’m not a big believer in fortune telling. The best way to predict the future is to implement it. Since when was quoting a classic aphorism a source of "guilt"? Am I supposed to include a footnote every time I use phrases like premature optimization, or considered harmful, or half-implemented buggy version of half of Common Lisp in casual conversation? Or does the do-not-quote-others rule only apply to DHH, who seems to attract character assassins as honey draws flies?
  - jhancock 18y ago
    again, I wasn't trying to bash DHH. Just adding some humor to my search for the very hard to find quote I'm still looking for. But if you wonder why DHH seems to attract character assassins, look no further than how he signed off from his Christmas Eve post http://www.loudthinking.com/posts/36-work-on-what-you-use-and-share-the-rest http://www.loudthinking.com/posts/36-work-on-what-you-use-an... "So kumbaja motherfuckers and merry christmas!" That's a great way to tick off a billion or so people.
    - tptacek 18y ago
      There are really a billion people who (a) read DHH's blog and (b) have the maturity of a middle school student? How sad they must be when their peers turn on "The Wire".
      - jhancock 18y ago
        I think you understand the point. Saying things like that on Christmas Eve is a clear attempt to be a lightning rod for criticism. I guess I'm going to have to email Mr. Kay myself if I want to find this so hard to find quote. Noone on HN seems to know it. I do recall that when I read it at least 10 years ago, I read it "offline". Maybe the goog doesn't know this one? ;)

by pg 18y ago

If DHH decided to tweak Alan Kay's quote (changing "invent" to "implement") and attribute it to himself, well, that's bullshit. You can safely assume he didn't.

jhancock 18y ago

Can anyone recall the quote I was looking for? It had something to do with how the brightest minds are being wasted and aren't working on the most interesting problems. I could even be wrong about it being a Kay quote, but I think so. thanks HN, I figure if someone here doesn't know, maybe someone can call Kay and ask him ;)

Hexstream 18y ago
I have one very related quote, though by Greenspun, not Kay: "We will live in a society where the best educated engineers are not designing anti-lock brakes. They are either managing comparatively poorly educated people who are designing anti-lock brakes, stitching up wounds in people who were injured by faulty anti-lock brakes, or defending companies that got sued for their anti-lock brake systems that didn't work." from http://philip.greenspun.com/school/tuition-free-mit.html http://philip.greenspun.com/school/tuition-free-mit.html
- jhancock 18y ago
  thanks. that's a nice one. The Kay quote is along those lines. I'll know it when I see it. It will be odd if it turns up and its not Kay ;)...I think so though.
  - kirubakaran 18y ago
    You may also want to google grim meathook future
- nomoresecrets 18y ago
  Reminds me of one of my favourite quotes from John Carmack: "I feel bad for some companies out there. The founders, who are these incredible engineers, are now directors of their departments doing management rather than engineering. At the same time most of the people they are managing are nowhere near as good as they were at doing the actual work."

tlrobinson 18y ago

As far as I can tell, this "interview" is where the "implement" version of the quote originated: http://www.stifflog.com/2006/10/16/stiff-asks-great-programmers-answer/ http://www.stifflog.com/2006/10/16/stiff-asks-great-programm... If it's legitimate then it seems DHH is guilty as charged.

mechanical_fish 18y ago
Huh? Here's the relevant section from the page you link to, in full: David Heinemeier Hansson: [in response to a question] I try not to predict the future. I’m not a big believer in fortune telling. The best way to predict the future is to implement it. Since when was quoting a classic aphorism a source of "guilt"? Am I supposed to include a footnote every time I use phrases like premature optimization, or considered harmful, or half-implemented buggy version of half of Common Lisp in casual conversation? Or does the do-not-quote-others rule only apply to DHH, who seems to attract character assassins as honey draws flies?
- jhancock 18y ago
  again, I wasn't trying to bash DHH. Just adding some humor to my search for the very hard to find quote I'm still looking for. But if you wonder why DHH seems to attract character assassins, look no further than how he signed off from his Christmas Eve post http://www.loudthinking.com/posts/36-work-on-what-you-use-and-share-the-rest http://www.loudthinking.com/posts/36-work-on-what-you-use-an... "So kumbaja motherfuckers and merry christmas!" That's a great way to tick off a billion or so people.
  - tptacek 18y ago
    There are really a billion people who (a) read DHH's blog and (b) have the maturity of a middle school student? How sad they must be when their peers turn on "The Wire".
    - jhancock 18y ago
      I think you understand the point. Saying things like that on Christmas Eve is a clear attempt to be a lightning rod for criticism. I guess I'm going to have to email Mr. Kay myself if I want to find this so hard to find quote. Noone on HN seems to know it. I do recall that when I read it at least 10 years ago, I read it "offline". Maybe the goog doesn't know this one? ;)