Difference between revisions of "Alan Kay talk at DePaul University (2012)"

Latest revision as of 21:28, 6 December 2017

this

great honor is especially meaningful to me because

no one knows more to his research

community than i do and i feel

the same spirit of family and community in

the wonderful deep all commitments to

access to everyone and it takes a

village to help all of us succeed in

our dreams when i asked

about graduation speeches i was

told it is tradition to give advice and

to be darn quick about it

but

since we're all manifestly diverse

everyone needs somewhat

different advice and after all of

these years I'm still working on my own process so

I don't have any lofty pronouncements from my

own experience this is probably a relief

on the other hand

we are all the members of the same species and

part of what education with

the capital e should mean is for

us to gain some understanding and perspective on

ourselves so after

acquiring a real education in college

shouldn't we be able to give

the human race at least one piece of useful advice

what of

many perspectives on humanity

would you choose and what advice would you give

there's a lot of scientific evidence that

says our species has been on the planet

for at least 200,000 years an

anthropologists who

have studied thousands of societies around the world and

found that all have language

stories culture

religion music

dance art several

hundred categories of behaviors

at all a child born

into one culture and moved at birth to another will

grow up as a member of the receiving

culture we have to be very similar

for this to be possible so

despite all of our manifest differences

down deep we were also very similar and

what seems to differ from culture to culture are

not our categories but how each culture

fills them out for

we don't fight over whether we have beliefs about

the world but over what beliefs

so here's what strikes me about us even

though for hundreds of thousands of years we've

cared so much about our beliefs to fight for them

until very recently we humans

have just taken the world of our senses and of

our cultures as they seem with

almost no attempts to invent ways to

check if our perceptions and beliefs actually

hold water in

other words we humans live inside of our heads

to an astonishing degree so

much so that we resemble a creature in

a dream that only occasionally matches

up with the world that lives in we

live in a kind of a hallucination of our own devising

Francis Bacon pointed

this out in 1610 when

he called for methods to be developed to get around the

blindness caused by our genetics

how our individual brains

develop how we use language and how

we assimilate the beliefs of our culture's

this was part of the already started

invention of science which produced

example after example we're careful investigations

and new kinds of thinking's revealed

that many of our beliefs about the world did not hold

up we have been fooling ourselves

so the perspective on humanity I

would choose is that we are the species

that fools itself in fact

we even pay good money to be fooled and

we have been fooling ourselves for

our entire 200,000 years and

part of the nature of this foolery is that

we can see and that

what we think is there is what is there a

wonderful line and the Talmud

says we things not as they are

but as we are I've often wondered

what happened to that person Marshall

McLuhan the great canadian philosopher

said until I believe it I can't see it

but we need dreams

and imagination one

of my greatest heroes was Helen Keller

who was rendered blind and deaf

before she was two years old yet

became the first deafblind person to earn a college

degree at Radcliffe in

1904 in 1932

shortly after the empire state building was

built at the dawn of the depression

in amazingly less than a year as a

statement by its contractors about

what humans can do with purpose and will

Helen Keller who knew a lot about

purpose and will took a trip to the top

she was asked afterwards by

dr. John Finley what did you think of

the site when you're on top of

the empire building here are

a few extracts from the letter she wrote to Finley

I quote

frankly I was so entranced seeing

that I did not think

about the site if

there was a subconscious thought of it it

was in the nature of gratitude

to God for having given

the blind seeing minds as I

now recall the view i had from the Empire tower

I'm convinced that until

we have looked into darkness we cannot

know what a divine thing vision is I

will concede that my guide

saw a thousand things that escaped me from

the top of the empire building but

i am not envious for imagination

creates distances and horizons

that reach to the end of the world it

is as easy for the mind to think in stars as

in cobblestones it

was a thrilling experience to be whizzed in a

lift a quarter of a mile heavenward and to

see New York spread out like a marvelous tapestry

beneath us there was the Hudson

more like the flash of a sword blade than

a noble River the little island

of Manhattan set like a jewel in its nest of

rainbow waters stared up into

my face and the solar system circled

about my head why I thought

the Sun and stars are suburbs

of New York and I never knew it I see

in the Empire State Building something else

passionate skill arduous and

fearless idealism the tallest

building is a victory of imagination instead

of crouching close to the earth like a beast the

spirit of man soars to higher regions and

from this new point of Vantage he

looks upon the impossible with fortified

courage and dreams yet more significant enterprises

what did I see in here from the Empire

tower as I stood there are twinks to earth

and sky I saw a romantic structure

wrought by human brains and hands

that is to the burning I of the Sun

arrival luminary I saw it stand erect

and serene in the midst of storm and the

tumult of n elemental commotion

I heard the hammer of Thor ring when the shaft

began to rise upward I saw the unconquerable

steal the flash of testing

flames the sword like rivets I heard

the stream steam drills and pandemonium I

saw countless skilled workers welding

together that mighty symmetry I looked

up on the Marvel of frail yet indomitable hands

that lifted the tower to

its dominating height

when I first read that i said wow

I say it now every

human being is born with it potential

to learn to see as Helen Keller learned to

see with their hearts body spirits and

minds and to learn to be as vividly alive

and human as Helen Keller learned to be

our great gift is that

though we are the stuff that dreams are made of we

can invest those dreams with the clearer knowledge

brought by careful study beyond our simple

prejudices there's nothing more powerful and

imagination coupled with investigation

imagination allows us to dream

and conceive of better futures for us all

investigation finds the powers and knowledge to

make better futures happen so

I think my advice to our species would be we can't learn

to see until we admit we are blind in

other words let us learn

how to wake up from the slumbers of our nervous system culture

and beliefs try to find out what is going on

and what is really needed thank you

Difference between revisions of "Alan Kay talk at DePaul University (2012)"

Latest revision as of 21:28, 6 December 2017

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@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
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+<subtitle id="0:0:9">this</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:12"> great honor is especially  meaningful to me because</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:15"> no one knows  more to his research</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:18"> community than i do  and i feel</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:21"> the same spirit of family and  community in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:24"> the wonderful deep all  commitments to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:27"> access to everyone and it  takes a</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:30"> village to help all of us  succeed in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:33"> our dreams when i asked</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:36"> about  graduation speeches i was</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:39"> told it is  tradition to give advice and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:42"> to be darn  quick about it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:45"> but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:48"> since we're all  manifestly diverse</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:51"> everyone needs  somewhat</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:54"> different advice and after all  of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:57"> these years I'm still working on my  own process so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:0"> I don't have any lofty  pronouncements from my</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:3"> own experience  this is probably a relief</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:6"> on the other  hand</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:9"> we are all the members of the same  species and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:12"> part of what education with</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:15">  the capital e should mean is for</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:18"> us to  gain some understanding and perspective  on</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:21"> ourselves so after</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:24"> acquiring a real  education in college</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:27"> shouldn't we be  able to give</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:30"> the human race at least one  piece of useful advice</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:33"> what of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:36"> many  perspectives on humanity</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:39"> would you  choose and what advice would you give</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:45">there's a lot of scientific evidence  that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:48"> says our species has been on the  planet</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:51"> for at least 200,000 years an</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:54">  anthropologists who</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:57"> have studied  thousands of societies around the world  and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:0"> found that all have language</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:3"> stories  culture</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:6"> religion music</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:9"> dance art several</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:12">  hundred categories of behaviors</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:15"> at all a  child born</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:18"> into one culture and moved at  birth to another will</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:21"> grow up as a  member  of the receiving</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:24"> culture we have to be  very similar</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:27"> for this to be possible so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:30">  despite all of our manifest differences</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:33">  down deep we were also very similar and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:36">what seems to differ from culture to  culture are</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:39"> not our categories but how  each culture</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:42"> fills them out for</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:45">we don't fight over whether we have  beliefs about</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:48"> the world but over what  beliefs</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:51"> so here's what strikes me about  us even</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:54"> though for hundreds of thousands  of years we've</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:57"> cared so much about our  beliefs to fight for them</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:0"> until very  recently we humans</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:3"> have just taken the  world of our senses and of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:6"> our cultures  as they seem with</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:9"> almost no attempts to  invent ways to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:12"> check if our perceptions  and beliefs actually</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:15"> hold water in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:18"> other  words we humans live inside of our heads</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:21">  to an astonishing degree so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:24"> much so that  we resemble a creature in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:27"> a dream that  only occasionally matches</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:30"> up with the  world that lives in we</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:33"> live in a kind of  a hallucination of our own devising</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:36">  Francis Bacon pointed</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:39"> this out in 1610  when</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:42"> he called for methods to be  developed to get around the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:45"> blindness  caused by our genetics</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:48"> how our  individual brains</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:51"> develop how we use  language and how</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:54"> we assimilate the  beliefs of our culture's</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:57"> this was part  of the already started</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:0"> invention of  science which produced</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:3"> example after  example we're careful investigations</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:6"> and  new kinds of thinking's revealed</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:9"> that  many of our beliefs about the world did  not hold</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:12"> up we have been fooling  ourselves</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:15"> so the perspective on humanity  I</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:18"> would choose is that we are the  species</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:21"> that fools itself in fact</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:24"> we  even pay good money to be fooled and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:27"> we  have been fooling ourselves for</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:30"> our  entire 200,000 years and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:33"> part of the  nature of this foolery is that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:36">we can see  and that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:39"> what we think is there is what  is there a</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:42"> wonderful line and the Talmud</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:45">  says we things not as they are</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:48"> but as we  are I've often wondered</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:51"> what happened to  that person Marshall</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:54"> McLuhan the great  canadian philosopher</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:57"> said until I  believe it I can't see it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:0"> but we need  dreams</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:3"> and imagination one</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:6"> of my  greatest heroes was Helen Keller</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:9"> who was  rendered blind and deaf</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:12"> before she was  two years old yet</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:15"> became the first  deafblind person to earn a college</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:18">  degree at Radcliffe in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:21"> 1904 in 1932</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:24">  shortly after the empire state building  was</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:27"> built at the dawn of the depression</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:30">  in amazingly less than a year as a</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:33">  statement by its contractors about</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:36"> what  humans can do with purpose and will</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:39">  Helen Keller who knew a lot about</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:42">  purpose and will took a trip to the top</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:45">  she was asked afterwards by</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:48"> dr. John  Finley what did you think of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:51"> the site  when you're on top of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:54"> the empire  building here are</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:57"> a few extracts from  the letter she wrote to Finley</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:0"> I quote</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:3">  frankly I was so entranced seeing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:6"> that I  did not think</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:9"> about the site if</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:12"> there  was a subconscious thought of it it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:15"> was  in the nature of gratitude</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:18"> to God for  having given</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:21"> the blind seeing minds as I</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:24">  now recall the view i had from the  Empire tower</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:27"> I'm convinced that until</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:30"> we  have looked into darkness we cannot</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:33"> know  what a divine thing vision is I</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:36"> will  concede that my guide</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:39"> saw a thousand  things that escaped me from</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:42"> the top of  the empire building but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:45"> i am not envious  for imagination</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:48"> creates distances and  horizons</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:51">  that reach to the end of the world it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:54"> is  as easy for the mind to think in stars  as</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:57"> in cobblestones it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:0"> was a thrilling  experience to be whizzed in a</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:3"> lift a  quarter of a mile heavenward and to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:6"> see  New York spread out like a marvelous  tapestry</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:9"> beneath us there was the Hudson</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:12">  more like the flash of a sword blade  than</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:15"> a noble River the little island</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:18"> of  Manhattan set like a jewel in its nest  of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:21"> rainbow waters stared up into</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:24"> my face  and the solar system circled</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:27"> about my  head why I thought</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:30"> the Sun and stars are  suburbs</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:33"> of New York and I never knew it  I see</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:36"> in the Empire State Building  something else</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:39"> passionate skill arduous  and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:42"> fearless idealism the tallest</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:45">building is a victory of imagination  instead</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:48"> of crouching close to the earth  like a beast the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:51"> spirit of man soars to  higher regions and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:54"> from this new point  of Vantage he</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:57"> looks upon the impossible  with fortified</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:0"> courage and dreams yet  more significant enterprises</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:3"> what did I  see in here from the Empire</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:6"> tower as I  stood there are twinks to earth</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:9"> and sky  I saw a romantic structure</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:12"> wrought by  human brains and hands</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:15"> that is to the  burning I of the Sun</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:18"> arrival luminary I  saw it stand erect</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:21"> and serene in the  midst of storm and the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:24"> tumult of n  elemental commotion</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:27"> I heard the hammer  of Thor ring when the shaft</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:30"> began to  rise upward I saw the unconquerable</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:33">  steal the flash of testing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:36"> flames the  sword like rivets I heard</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:39"> the stream  steam drills and pandemonium I</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:42"> saw  countless skilled workers welding</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:45">  together that mighty symmetry I looked</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:48">up on the Marvel of frail yet  indomitable hands</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:51"> that lifted the tower  to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:54"> its dominating height</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:57"> when I first  read that i said wow</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:0">  I say it now every</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:3"> human being is born  with it potential</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:6"> to learn to see as  Helen Keller learned to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:9"> see with their  hearts body spirits and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:12"> minds and to  learn to be as vividly alive</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:15"> and human  as Helen Keller learned to be</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:18"> our great  gift is that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:21"> though we are the stuff  that dreams are made of we</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:24"> can invest  those dreams with the clearer knowledge</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:27">  brought by careful study beyond our  simple</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:30"> prejudices there's nothing more  powerful and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:33"> imagination coupled with  investigation</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:36"> imagination allows us to  dream</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:39"> and conceive of better futures for  us all</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:42"> investigation finds the powers  and knowledge to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:45"> make better futures  happen so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:48"> I think my advice to our  species would be we can't learn</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:51"> to see  until we admit we are blind in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:54"> other  words let us learn</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:57"> how to wake up from  the slumbers of our nervous system  culture</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:0"> and beliefs try to find out what  is going on</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:3"> and what is really needed  thank you</subtitle>