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While there's no question that some of Alan Kay's achievements are very important, I cannot help but thinking that our industry's tendency to surrender to 'fani

by vidoc 14y ago

While there's no question that some of Alan Kay's achievements are very important, I cannot help but thinking that our industry's tendency to surrender to 'fanism' (e.g: douglas crockford, linus torvalds) - is ridiculous.

RivieraKid 14y ago
Exactly. There are loads of people with much more interesting ideas, for example the author of this article: http://awelonblue.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/why-not-events/ http://awelonblue.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/why-not-events/.
IheartApplesDix 14y ago
You have to admit, Fascism is a great system for getting things done. Oh my bad, you said fanism.
mythz 14y ago
Learning the educated insights from the brilliant minds in history is not 'fanism', it's benefiting and building off their experiences and is what Alan refers to when he says: "Point of view is worth 80 IQ points" In his talk he uses Leonardo Da Vinci who despite being one of the smartest people in existence wasn't able to invent a motor for any of his machines, a feat accomplished by a less capable Mr Ford who did it en-masse. Not learning from history is one of the reasons why the state of the industry is where it's at today.
- vidoc 14y ago
  Don't get me wrong, I'm not contradicting that, nor am I advocating not learning from history. I just think that stuff like that: "The Deep Insights of Alan Kay" "Alan is the most important person alive in Computer Science"" is over the top.
  - mythz 14y ago
    I never said "Alan is the most important person alive in Computer Science" (though he's obviously a contender) And I have no regrets over the title "The Deep Insights of Alan Kay"... Alan has generated a wealth of intellect, experience and insights in his works that most IT people still don't know about or even know who he is. The objective of the post is to bring some of his meaningful and powerful ideas to the surface and summarize them so it's more palatable and more accessible to more people - I think the title accurately captures this.

by vidoc 14y ago

RivieraKid 14y ago

Exactly. There are loads of people with much more interesting ideas, for example the author of this article: http://awelonblue.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/why-not-events/ http://awelonblue.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/why-not-events/.

IheartApplesDix 14y ago

You have to admit, Fascism is a great system for getting things done. Oh my bad, you said fanism.

mythz 14y ago

Learning the educated insights from the brilliant minds in history is not 'fanism', it's benefiting and building off their experiences and is what Alan refers to when he says: "Point of view is worth 80 IQ points" In his talk he uses Leonardo Da Vinci who despite being one of the smartest people in existence wasn't able to invent a motor for any of his machines, a feat accomplished by a less capable Mr Ford who did it en-masse. Not learning from history is one of the reasons why the state of the industry is where it's at today.

vidoc 14y ago
Don't get me wrong, I'm not contradicting that, nor am I advocating not learning from history. I just think that stuff like that: "The Deep Insights of Alan Kay" "Alan is the most important person alive in Computer Science"" is over the top.
- mythz 14y ago
  I never said "Alan is the most important person alive in Computer Science" (though he's obviously a contender) And I have no regrets over the title "The Deep Insights of Alan Kay"... Alan has generated a wealth of intellect, experience and insights in his works that most IT people still don't know about or even know who he is. The objective of the post is to bring some of his meaningful and powerful ideas to the surface and summarize them so it's more palatable and more accessible to more people - I think the title accurately captures this.