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I think you might be misunderstanding Victor a little, but then again your viewpoint has expanded mine, and I think there is more to be said about what his inte

I think you might be misunderstanding Victor a little, but then again your viewpoint has expanded mine, and I think there is more to be said about what his intentions are, which we in the sphere, may be inherently misunderstanding. What I think his point is all about with re-thinking the interface is that the interface itself is a new language, and has always been propelled forward by those willing to use that language actively. His desire is an educational one, of enlightenment to and on the part of, the User. Learning algebra your way may have been good for you, but learning algebra with interactive control may be good for others, too. My 6 year old son has had much fun with worrydream.com, as a personal matter of fact, and I'm sure he - as a kid growing up with immense computing power - is going to be just as cognisant of the subject, through interfaces such as this, as any of us elders.. I think Victor is an educator, mostly, and in that sense his position is immensely valuable. Kids who xbox, dude, is the market.

leephillips 13y ago
This is possible. It might be that the greatest benefit of these kinds of interfaces is in pedagogy. In any case, this work is clearly worth keeping an eye on, even if I don't buy all of Victor's arguments for its utility. I also have children in grade school, who can scarcely believe that when I was their age, and in high school, and in college, actually having a computer in your house (never mind in your shirt pocket) was just science fiction. So I struggle with trying to figure out how valuable computers can be in helping to educate them, or whether they are more of a distraction.
- fit2rule 13y ago
  I understand what you're saying about how to bring computers into perspective for the younger generations. So .. My kids have a working 8-bit computer setup in their bedroom. It was my first 'real' computer, 48k. (Oric-1) They learned to hack on that before they got to a PC. The 6-year old regularly totes his OLPC along to the grandparents, just to run the emulators of these old machines. There is something magnificent about being able to plot something in BASIC and see the results immediately. My kids, I think, got just as much fundamental understanding of what the computer was doing, because of this interface, as I did when I was younger. There is much value to not throwing things away.

leephillips 13y ago

This is possible. It might be that the greatest benefit of these kinds of interfaces is in pedagogy. In any case, this work is clearly worth keeping an eye on, even if I don't buy all of Victor's arguments for its utility. I also have children in grade school, who can scarcely believe that when I was their age, and in high school, and in college, actually having a computer in your house (never mind in your shirt pocket) was just science fiction. So I struggle with trying to figure out how valuable computers can be in helping to educate them, or whether they are more of a distraction.

fit2rule 13y ago
I understand what you're saying about how to bring computers into perspective for the younger generations. So .. My kids have a working 8-bit computer setup in their bedroom. It was my first 'real' computer, 48k. (Oric-1) They learned to hack on that before they got to a PC. The 6-year old regularly totes his OLPC along to the grandparents, just to run the emulators of these old machines. There is something magnificent about being able to plot something in BASIC and see the results immediately. My kids, I think, got just as much fundamental understanding of what the computer was doing, because of this interface, as I did when I was younger. There is much value to not throwing things away.