Difference between revisions of "Alan Kay - Inventing the Future Part 2 (2015)"

Latest revision as of 01:36, 21 November 2021

see my passion for education

has been

education as a use

for going very

far from what a human being is

at birth and very far what a human

being is from a traditional culture to

what a human being can be from

taking on these elevated points of view so

schooling is

not found in any formal way in most

traditional societies because

most of the things that need

to be learned are learned

by watching what the adults do and there

some little

secret society things that are special schooling

for boys and girls in many societies but

the kind of formal schooling we're

used to actually got created

along with writing because

surprisingly enough and it's still a

surprise today when you think about it even

though writing especially our form of alphabetic writing

is nothing much more than writing

down the very sounds that we make most

when they speak are not even aware of they're making speech

sounds they think in terms of words and sentences and

so writing was actually a hard invention we

were on the planet for about a hundred ninety

thousand years before writing was invented it's

shocking and once

it was invented particularly

when we moved forward to alphabetic

writing one of the things that was surprising was

it's still hard to learn and

so schools

were set up to help learn this thing

which now is looked at as

much more of a skill learning than

what it takes for us to learn our native language or learn

stories that are being being

told and as schooling

progressed we had other inventions so we had the

inventions of

around 2500 BC and I've

been talking about science but the other thing that happened

in the 17th and 18th century was

inventions of new

forms of governments that tried to deal

with some of the ideas of what's the

trade-off between what's owed to the society

and what's owed to the individual and all of these

ideas are actually very hard for most

human brains to actually think about and learn

the idea of equal rights for instance is not

found in any traditional Society ever studied by anthropologists

and there are some that

have something a little more like equal rights but they

they almost never apply to women

and so this idea of

equal rights is actually an invention it's

not something we're born with and it

actually hard to learn it's hard to put into practice

and so the

when education was set up

particularly the parts

that Thomas Jefferson had to do with and also in

New England colonies

was set up primarily to teach

people who are mostly

agrarian farmers

how to read

how to learn from reading

what the main issues of

government are and not how to

agree to a party line because

diversity is the very soul of freedom

but how to argue with others to

make progress rather than to just win

and all of these things were part of the larger

sphere of how this country was

set up so the

one of the biggest

things that helped democracy along was

the printing press and

Marshall McLuhan pointed

out he said you can argue with a lot about

a lot of things with stained-glass windows

but democracy is not one of them and

our country was literally argued

into existence through writing

and especially through printing and

many people are not aware of it but even during

the Constitutional Convention when

drafts were done well

err between 30 and 55 people there at

any given time when a draft was

done how did all of them read it and the answer it

was typeset overnight and

printed the copies for everybody

were printed before the session started each

day when they had something to go and there some

of these interesting drafts

in typeset types

printed in a narrow column so

there's plenty of room for writing notes on them so

this idea of

being able to send out

ideas and send out

a few facets of an idea and then having

people be able to debate

these ideas and then

to find some accommodation as

part and parcel of why

the United States has survived and

prospered for so long so my interest

when we started

thinking about personal computers in fact

to invent personal computers both

in the Advanced Research Projects

Agency funding in the 60s and then

Xerox PARC in the 70s part

of the idea was the

personal computer if we could do it

is not just

something that can deal with old media but

it can actually deal with ideas

and especially new ideas in ways that

old media can't and in particular if

you think about some of the things that we're worried

about today they're all processes

we're

not so worried about a single idea

that's just sitting there we're worrying

about global warming there's the population

explosion there

are the ability

to make extremely powerful

weapons for human beings and

you still have these cave people brains that's

all of us and so

one of the things that

mathematics was invented for was to be

able to do thinking about time

and space without having

to make things where are you making

lightweight things made out of symbols and if

your theories were good the mathematics went to a lot of

the work of making mistakes out in the real

world the computers can go much much further than

that in roughly the same way

and much of what we know about global warming is

actually due to computer simulations of

many different kinds it's a very complicated

area and

so an interesting question is

we used to teach children

reading for very

good reasons and most of them not having to do with

getting a job but for getting into the

issues of our time so I got

interested in the idea and I was catalyzed by Seymour

Papert of

inventing personal computing along with

some colleagues in order to put

children into the most important ideas of

our time using the most powerful modes of

expression and well

it hasn't really happened we actually have

the computers we

worked on the the

computer that about 11 years later became

the first Macintosh and a bunch of us worked

on the networks

large and small that we use today

and I'm has worked on laser printing

and a number of us work on many other parts

of this thing I actually

designed the early fonts

some of the descendants of which are used and

by people who read eBooks today and

in fact we weren't doing these

things in order to imitate old media we're doing

things to try to change the educational

system to make the ideas

more powerful to make the ways of learning them

sink much deeper

into the way children think

and the ideal was to

have as many children as possible

grow up thinking much much

better than most adults do today so that doesn't

happen and I think it will

but what we're doing right now because

of the way companies work and consumer

products work as computers are

being used primarily as

something that is not only directly

television but things that are like television

that is they're being used for old media

they're being used for old ideas they're being used

for things that every cave person would rec

recognize but they're

almost never being used for things that no cave person would

recognize like learning about how

cooperation completely

Trump's competition and

better ways to balance these ideas so

that the resources available are

much much larger for all so all of these ideas

have been thought about

for many many years but if you

think about looking forward to a future we'd like to live in

then the best way to predict

the future would be you invent it that's

going to be on my tombstone I think but

the future we want to invent is a

future in which humans

beings have finally grown up into real adults rather

the half adults we have today thank

Difference between revisions of "Alan Kay - Inventing the Future Part 2 (2015)"

Latest revision as of 01:36, 21 November 2021

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@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 |autoresize=false
 }}
+<subtitle id="0:0:18">see my passion for education</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:21"> has been</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:24"> education as a use</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:27"> for going very</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:30"> far from what a human being is</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:33"> at birth and very far what a human</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:36"> being is from a traditional culture to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:39"> what a human being can be from</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:42"> taking on these elevated points of view so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:45"> schooling is</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:48"> not found in any formal way in most</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:51"> traditional societies because</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:54"> most of the things that need</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:0:57"> to be learned are learned</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:0"> by watching what the adults do and there</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:3"> some little</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:6"> secret society things that are special schooling</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:9"> for boys and girls in many societies but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:12"> the kind of formal schooling we're</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:15"> used to actually got created</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:18"> along with writing because</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:21"> surprisingly enough and it's still a</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:24"> surprise today when you think about it even</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:27"> though writing especially our form of alphabetic writing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:30"> is nothing much more than writing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:33"> down the very sounds that we make most</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:36">when they speak are not even aware of they're making speech</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:39"> sounds they think in terms of words and sentences and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:42"> so writing was actually a hard invention we</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:45"> were on the planet for about a hundred ninety</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:48"> thousand years before writing was invented it's</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:51"> shocking and once</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:54"> it was invented particularly</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:1:57"> when we moved forward to alphabetic</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:0"> writing one of the things that was surprising was</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:3"> it's still hard to learn and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:6"> so schools</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:9"> were set up to help learn this thing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:12"> which now is looked at as</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:15"> much more of a skill learning than</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:18"> what it takes for us to learn our native language or learn</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:21"> stories that are being being</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:24"> told and as schooling</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:27"> progressed we had other inventions so we had the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:30"> inventions of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:33"> around 2500 BC and I've</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:36"> been talking about science but the other thing that happened</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:39"> in the 17th and 18th century was</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:42"> inventions of new</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:45"> forms of governments that tried to deal</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:48"> with some of the ideas of what's the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:51"> trade-off between what's owed to the society</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:54"> and what's owed to the individual and all of these</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:2:57"> ideas are actually very hard for most</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:0"> human brains to actually think about and learn</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:3"> the idea of equal rights for instance is not</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:6"> found in any traditional Society ever studied by anthropologists</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:9"> and there are some that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:12">have something a little more like equal rights but they</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:15"> they almost never apply to women</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:18"> and so this idea of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:21"> equal rights is actually an invention it's</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:24"> not something we're born with and it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:27">actually hard to learn it's hard to put into practice</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:30"> and so the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:33"> when education was set up</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:36"> particularly the parts</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:39"> that Thomas Jefferson had to do with and also in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:42"> New England colonies</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:45"> was set up primarily to teach</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:48"> people who are mostly</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:51"> agrarian farmers</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:54"> how to read</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:3:57"> how to learn from reading</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:0"> what the main issues of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:3"> government are and not how to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:6"> agree to a party line because</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:9"> diversity is the very soul of freedom</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:12"> but how to argue with others to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:15"> make progress rather than to just win</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:18"> and all of these things were part of the larger</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:21"> sphere of how this country was</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:24"> set up so the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:27"> one of the biggest</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:30"> things that helped democracy along was</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:33"> the printing press and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:36"> Marshall McLuhan pointed</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:39"> out he said you can argue with a lot about</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:42"> a lot of things with stained-glass windows</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:45"> but democracy is not one of them and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:48"> our country was literally argued</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:51"> into existence through writing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:54"> and especially through printing and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:4:57"> many people are not aware of it but even during</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:0"> the Constitutional Convention when</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:3"> drafts were done well</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:6"> err between 30 and 55 people there at</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:9"> any given time when a draft was</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:12"> done how did all of them read it and the answer it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:15"> was typeset overnight and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:18"> printed the copies for everybody</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:21"> were printed before the session started each</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:24"> day when they had something to go and there some</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:27"> of these interesting drafts</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:30"> in typeset types</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:33"> printed in a narrow column so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:36">there's plenty of room for writing notes on them so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:39"> this idea of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:42"> being able to send out</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:45"> ideas and send out</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:48"> a few facets of an idea and then having</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:51"> people be able to debate</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:54"> these ideas and then</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:5:57"> to find some accommodation as</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:0"> part and parcel of why</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:3"> the United States has survived and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:6"> prospered for so long so my interest</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:9"> when we started</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:12"> thinking about personal computers in fact</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:15"> to invent personal computers both</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:18"> in the Advanced Research Projects</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:21"> Agency funding in the 60s and then</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:24"> Xerox PARC in the 70s part</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:27"> of the idea was the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:30"> personal computer if we could do it</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:33"> is not just</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:36"> something that can deal with old media but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:39"> it can actually deal with ideas</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:42"> and especially new ideas in ways that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:45"> old media can't and in particular if</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:48"> you think about some of the things that we're worried</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:51"> about today they're all processes</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:54"> we're</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:6:57"> not so worried about a single idea</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:0"> that's just sitting there we're worrying</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:3">about global warming there's the population</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:6"> explosion there</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:9"> are the ability</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:12"> to make extremely powerful</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:15"> weapons for human beings and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:18"> you still have these cave people brains that's</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:21"> all of us and so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:24"> one of the things that</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:27"> mathematics was invented for was to be</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:30"> able to do thinking about time</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:33"> and space without having</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:36"> to make things where are you making</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:39"> lightweight things made out of symbols and if</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:42"> your theories were good the mathematics went to a lot of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:45"> the work of making mistakes out in the real</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:48"> world the computers can go much much further than</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:51"> that in roughly the same way</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:54"> and much of what we know about global warming is</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:7:57"> actually due to computer simulations of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:0"> many different kinds it's a very complicated</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:3"> area and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:6"> so an interesting question is</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:9"> we used to teach children</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:12"> reading for very</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:15"> good reasons and most of them not having to do with</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:18"> getting a job but for getting into the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:21"> issues of our time so I got</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:24">interested in the idea and I was catalyzed by Seymour</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:27"> Papert of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:30"> inventing personal computing along with</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:33"> some colleagues in order to put</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:36"> children into the most important ideas of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:39"> our time using the most powerful modes of</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:42"> expression and well</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:45"> it hasn't really happened we actually have</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:48"> the computers we</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:51"> worked on the the</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:54"> computer that about 11 years later became</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:8:57"> the first Macintosh and a bunch of us worked</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:0"> on the networks</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:3"> large and small that we use today</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:6"> and I'm has worked on laser printing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:9"> and a number of us work on many other parts</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:12"> of this thing I actually</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:15"> designed the early fonts</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:18"> some of the descendants of which are used and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:21"> by people who read eBooks today and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:24"> in fact we weren't doing these</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:27"> things in order to imitate old media we're doing</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:30"> things to try to change the educational</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:33"> system to make the ideas</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:36"> more powerful to make the ways of learning them</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:39"> sink much deeper</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:42"> into the way children think</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:45"> and the ideal was to</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:48"> have as many children as possible</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:51"> grow up thinking much much</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:54"> better than most adults do today so that doesn't</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:9:57"> happen and I think it will</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:0"> but what we're doing right now because</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:3"> of the way companies work and consumer</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:6"> products work as computers are</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:9"> being used primarily as</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:12"> something that is not only directly</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:15">television but things that are like television</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:18"> that is they're being used for old media</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:21"> they're being used for old ideas they're being used</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:24"> for things that every cave person would rec</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:27"> recognize but they're</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:30"> almost never being used for things that no cave person would</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:33"> recognize like learning about how</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:36"> cooperation completely</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:39"> Trump's competition and</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:42"> better ways to balance these ideas so</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:45"> that the resources available are</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:48"> much much larger for all so all of these ideas</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:51"> have been thought about</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:54"> for many many years but if you</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:10:57">think about looking forward to a future we'd like to live in</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:11:0"> then the best way to predict</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:11:3"> the future would be you invent it that's</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:11:6"> going to be on my tombstone I think but</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:11:9"> the future we want to invent is a</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:11:12"> future in which humans</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:11:15">beings have finally grown up into real adults rather</subtitle>
+<subtitle id="0:11:18"> the half adults we have today thank</subtitle>