Difference between revisions of "Alan Kay, '05 Columbia College Commencement"

Latest revision as of 23:31, 5 December 2017

it

is my pleasure to present to you LMK the

degree Doctor of Letters honoris causa with all

the rights and privileges appertaining here to

thank you so much now

honorary degrees are nice but the real ones

that you've earned today are much nicer so let me congratulate you

commencement

talks are usually full of advice but

there is such a wide diversity of human styles that

each person really needs something special there's

a great scene in the movie city slickers where Billy

Crystal plays a guy in a midlife crisis

who goes on a cattle drive to find himself

Jack Palance is the old cowboy who says you

city folks just don't get it the

secret of life is just one thing

and billy crystal says what is it what is it

the old cowboy said that's what you

have to find out so I'm going to avoid giving

advice in this talk

there are even jokes about commencement

Doonesbury did a Sunday comic about it

President Bush thought it would be funny to point

out that one can go far in the US with a sea average

in

a commencement a few weeks ago he said literally

look what I've accomplished with my fluency and language

and grammar

what a role model

but

mr. books Bush's remarks do point up

the enormous distinction between just getting

a degree and getting a real education

the shocking start of

real education happens when you realize that

you not only don't know very much

compared to the good stuff that's known but

what you do know is known in a very weak way and

the problem with starting

on this path of education this this doesn't change

as you get better educated the

more you learn the more you realize you don't know and

the more you realize you understand it in a week

way people say but

I want to know everything and

I want to be absolutely sure of it a

lot of people do this by

living inside their heads with stories they choose to

believe in but it uses an

ancient version of know that really means

the same as believe and it misses most of

the important ideas about

400 years ago a new

way of living outside of our heads a little bit

was invented science

changed the meaning of know so drastically that

it would have been better

if a new word had been coined we

still used no science

fiction writer Robert Heinlein gave us a Martian

word for this new way of knowing called it grok

in part grok

understand things in a way that minimizes

our human genetic and cultural biases

this is known a long time ago

the talmud says we see things not as they

are but as we are rock

means to try to see things

not as we are but from stronger points

of view the most critical

ideas of humanity have happened when somebody

is realized that the world is not as it seems that

most of the important stuff is quite invisible

to our nervous system and belief structures

this

is something you know about because making the invisible a little more visible

is what artists have always tried to do

and grokking

became the newest of the Arts

was one of the great art forms

of the last century

another early part of this new way

of thinking happened when democratic

Republic's like ours were invented that tried to

take into account our biases and prejudices

in 18th century America

the title of Tom

Paine's Common Sense was a play

on words because it was really

an argument against common-sense ideas about

governments for example having a king in those

days seemed quite natural it

was a natural extension of having a father be

the head of a family but pain said

and let instead of having the King be the law

let us have the law be the king and

he meant that people can invent a form

of government that is better for

most people than what seems natural Tom Paine

really meant uncommon sense

Thomas Jefferson at a letter in

1820 said I know of no safe depository

of the ultimate powers of

the society but the people themselves and

if we think them not enlightened

enough to exercise

their control with a wholesome discretion the

remedy is not to take it from them but

to inform their discretion by education this

is what education in America really means

inform their discretion by

education means not helping Americans learn a job

or facts but helping them

learn to grok few

years back my wife Bonnie mcbird who

incidentally was the original writer of the movie

Tron that's how we met

she

had a nice argument with Vice President Al

Gore over the haves and have-nots

he was worried about the digital divide

in the United States but she pointed

out that most of the important knowledge of

the world was still in books and available

in free public libraries she

said that the real haves and have-nots are those

who have or have not the discretion to make

use of these free resources the

real start of education is to gain that discretion

a survey a few years ago indicated

that only about twenty percent of american adults today

can read and understand the

simply written pamphlet common sense by

tom paine this includes many college

graduates so the safe repository

of the ultimate powers of society is not

so safe these days our

main job as adults now usually

that I found that the most popular advice in a

commencement talk was to follow your

bliss or do what you really

love and so forth and that is actually good

advice but it's it's to individual

it's two

in cognizant of the

fact that we live in a society it's our main job as

adults especially as college graduates

is to try to help all of the children of

the world grow up to think better meaning

grok better than we do and

we were involved in the new

media can make a big difference here that's

you Nicholas Negroponte and

I Nicholas is the founder of the Media Lab at

MIT he and I are involved in

a serious project underway right now

to make and distribute an under

$100 laptop

for all of the children in the world that has

multiple billions of children

this is possible to do

mcluhan pointed out that we shape media

but then the media turn around and reshape

us so what kind of content will

you make for this new medium

Nicholas and I are making the machine but

it's up to you to make the content what kind of content will you

make for the children of the world

30 years ago

I attended a conference on mind and body

held at the Zen Center in California

the monks would often

clasp their hands together and pause

for a moment

eventually worked up the courage to ask them why

they did this they said

Buddhists believe that the world of the

senses is an illusion which most of

the time we have to pretend is real like when

of we're walking into a path of a bus

maybe an illusion but we better get out of the way

but during the day there are occasions

at a meal

starting to do work at a ceremony

like this where we pause for a moment to

reflect that we are incredibly finite and limited

beings and reality

is much larger than we can take in at

any one time I think this is a wonderful practice

to pause several times a day and

think for a second about all

the things we aren't thinking about

so congratulations again and

thank you very much for pausing

to grok the real significance of this

"

Difference between revisions of "Alan Kay, '05 Columbia College Commencement"

Latest revision as of 23:31, 5 December 2017

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+<subtitle id="0:0:0">it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:3"> is my pleasure to present to you LMK  the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:6"> degree Doctor of Letters honoris  causa with all</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:9"> the rights and privileges  appertaining here to</subtitle>
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+<subtitle id="0:0:15"></subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:18"></subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:21"> thank you so much  now</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:24"> honorary degrees are nice but the  real ones</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:27"> that you've earned today are  much nicer so let me congratulate you</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:33">commencement</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:36"> talks are usually full of  advice but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:39"> there is such a wide  diversity of human styles that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:42"> each  person really needs something special  there's</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:45"> a great scene in the movie city  slickers where Billy</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:48"> Crystal plays a guy  in a midlife crisis</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:51"> who goes on a cattle  drive to find himself</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:54"> Jack Palance is  the old cowboy who says you</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:57"> city folks  just don't get it the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:0"> secret of life is  just one thing</subtitle>
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+<subtitle id="0:1:27"> President Bush thought it  would be funny to point</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:30"> out that one can  go far in the US with a sea average</subtitle>
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+<subtitle id="0:1:48"> look what I've  accomplished with my fluency and  language</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:51"> and grammar</subtitle>
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+<subtitle id="0:1:57">but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:0"> mr. books Bush's remarks do point up</subtitle>
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+<subtitle id="0:2:6"> a degree and getting a real  education</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:18">the shocking start of</subtitle>
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+<subtitle id="0:2:51"> I want to know everything and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:54"> I want  to be absolutely sure of it a</subtitle>
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+<subtitle id="0:3:0"> living inside their  heads with stories they choose to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:3">  believe in but it uses an</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:6"> ancient  version of know that really means</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:9"> the  same as believe and it misses most of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:12">  the important ideas about</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:15"> 400 years ago  a new</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:18"> way of living outside of our heads  a little bit</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:21"> was invented science</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:24">changed the meaning of know so  drastically that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:27"> it would have been  better</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:30"> if a new word had been coined we</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:33">  still used no science</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:36"> fiction writer  Robert Heinlein gave us a Martian</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:39"> word  for this new way of knowing called it  grok</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:42"> in part grok</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:45">understand things in a way that  minimizes</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:48"> our human genetic and cultural  biases</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:51"> this is known a long time ago</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:54"> the  talmud says we see things not as they</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:57">  are but as we are rock</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:0"> means to try to  see things</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:3"> not as we are but from  stronger points</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:6"> of view the most  critical</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:9"> ideas of humanity have happened  when somebody</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:12"> is realized that the world  is not as it seems that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:15"> most of the  important stuff is quite invisible</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:18"> to  our nervous system and belief structures</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:21">  this</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:24"> is something you know about because  making the invisible a little more  visible</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:27"> is what artists have always  tried to do</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:30">  and grokking</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:33"> became the newest of the  Arts</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:36"> was one of the great art forms</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:39"> of  the last century</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:42"> another early part of  this new way</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:45"> of thinking happened when  democratic</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:48"> Republic's like ours were  invented that tried to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:51"> take into account  our biases and prejudices</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:54"> in 18th  century America</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:57"> the title of Tom</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:0"> Paine's  Common Sense was a play</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:3"> on words because  it was really</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:6"> an argument against  common-sense ideas about</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:9"> governments for  example having a king in those</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:12"> days  seemed quite natural it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:15"> was a natural  extension of having a father be</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:18"> the head  of a family but pain said</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:21"> and let  instead of having the King be the law</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:24">  let us have the law be the king and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:27"> he  meant that people can invent a form</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:30"> of  government that is better for</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:33"> most  people than what seems natural Tom Paine</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:36">  really meant uncommon sense</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:39"> Thomas  Jefferson at a letter in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:42"> 1820 said I  know of no safe depository</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:45"> of the  ultimate powers of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:48"> the society but the  people themselves and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:51"> if we think them  not enlightened</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:54"> enough to exercise</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:57"> their  control with a wholesome discretion the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:0">  remedy is not to take it from them but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:3">  to inform their discretion by education  this</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:6"> is what education in America really  means</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:9"> inform their discretion by</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:12">  education means not helping Americans  learn a job</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:15"> or facts but helping them</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:18">  learn to grok few</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:21"> years back my wife  Bonnie mcbird who</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:24"> incidentally was the  original writer of the movie</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:27"> Tron that's  how we met</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:30">she</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:33"> had a nice argument with Vice  President Al</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:36"> Gore over the haves and  have-nots</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:39"> he was worried about the  digital divide</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:42"> in the United States but  she pointed</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:45"> out that most of the  important knowledge of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:48"> the world was  still in books and available</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:51"> in free  public libraries she</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:54"> said that the real  haves and have-nots are those</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:57"> who have  or have not the discretion to make</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:0"> use  of these free resources the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:3"> real start  of education is to gain that discretion</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:6">  a survey a few years ago indicated</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:9"> that  only about twenty percent of american  adults today</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:12"> can read and understand the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:15">  simply written pamphlet common sense by</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:18">  tom paine this includes many college</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:21">  graduates so the safe repository</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:24"> of the  ultimate powers of society is not</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:27"> so  safe these days our</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:30"> main job as adults  now usually</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:33"> that I found that the most  popular advice in a</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:36"> commencement talk  was to follow your</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:39"> bliss or do what you  really</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:42"> love and so forth and that is  actually good</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:45"> advice but it's it's to  individual</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:48"> it's two</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:51"> in cognizant of the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:54">fact that we live in a society it's our  main job as</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:57"> adults especially as college  graduates</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:0"> is to try to help all of the  children of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:3"> the world grow up to think  better meaning</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:6"> grok better than we do  and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:9"> we were involved in the new</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:12"> media  can make a big difference here that's</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:15">  you Nicholas Negroponte and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:18"> I Nicholas  is the founder of the Media Lab at</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:21"> MIT  he and I are involved in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:24"> a serious  project underway right now</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:27"> to make and  distribute an under</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:30"> $100 laptop</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:33">for all of the children in the world  that has</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:36"> multiple billions of children</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:42">this is possible to do</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:45"> mcluhan pointed  out that we shape media</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:48"> but then the  media turn around and reshape</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:51"> us so what  kind of content will</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:54"> you make for this  new medium</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:57"> Nicholas and I are making the  machine but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:0"> it's up to you to make the  content what kind of content will you</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:3">  make for the children of the world</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:6"> 30  years ago</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:9"> I attended a conference on  mind and body</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:12"> held at the Zen Center in  California</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:15"> the monks would often</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:18"> clasp  their hands together and pause</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:21"> for a  moment</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:24"> eventually worked up the courage  to ask them why</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:27"> they did this they said</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:30">  Buddhists believe that the world of the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:33">  senses is an illusion which most of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:36"> the  time we have to pretend is real like  when</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:39"> of we're walking into a path of a  bus</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:42"> maybe an illusion but we better get  out of the way</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:45"> but during the day there  are occasions</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:48"> at a meal</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:51"> starting to do  work at a ceremony</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:54"> like this where we  pause for a moment to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:57"> reflect that we  are incredibly finite and limited</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:0"> beings  and reality</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:3"> is much larger than we can  take in at</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:6"> any one time I think this is  a wonderful practice</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:9"> to pause several  times a day and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:12"> think for a second about  all</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:15"> the things we aren't thinking about</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:18">  so congratulations again and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:21"> thank you  very much for pausing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:24"> to grok the real  significance of this</subtitle>
+"