Famously, Apple coined the term "Bicycle for the Mind". I think one of the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we’re tool bui

Famously, Apple coined the term "Bicycle for the Mind". I think one of the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we’re tool builders. I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. And, humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing, about a third of the way down the list. It was not too proud a showing for the crown of creation. So, that didn’t look so good. But, then somebody at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle. And, a man on a bicycle, a human on a bicycle, blew the condor away, completely off the top of the charts. - Steve Jobs That's one of the reasons I've always loved Hypercard. [1] It made ordinary computer users programmers -- heck, it was even used to create the hit game Myst. In the video linked below, check out the used car salesman who creates a tool for matching cars with his customers. In the nineteen eighties no less! As computers have become more consumer oriented, the ordinary user doesn't _need_ to know how to program. There are plenty of apps for individual purposes. But I often wonder how different things would be if our operating system were more like Hypercard. Need a calculator app? Build one. Okay, perhaps a waste of time you'd say. But let's say the ordinary user could build a calculator app -- those skills could be extended to piece together ever more sophisticated tools. A lot of people argue that ordinary folks don't want to program. Or don't have the time... Recently I saw a tweet that turned the Bicycle for the Mind phrase into a dystopian one: A Treadmill for the Mind. Perhaps we have more time than we think, but we burn it on computers doing pointless things. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3624149 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3624149