The Father of Mobile Computing Is Not Impressed (fastcompany.com)

harrymcc writes: Starting in the late 1960s, Alan Kay envisioned a powerful portable computer that would be a revolutionary learning device, then built some of the necessary tech at Xerox PARC and elsewhere. Today, his ideas are all around us -- but Kay is distinctly unimpressed with the iPhone, iPad, and other modern devices, which he says encourage passivity rather than creativity. Brian Merchant talked to the computing pioneer for a wide-ranging interview on FastCompany. An excerpt from the interview: Google has been around for a long time now. I bitched at [Google] for years: Why the fuck can't we type in a question and get a decent answer? There's all sorts of pre-processing you can do with the computing we have now to put a lot more semantics in there, and look at the shit you're retrieving. And by the way, the stuff that isn't popular -- which is probably what most people need to read, if the thing even knew what the question is -- is buried [in Google search results], and most people won't go past a couple of results or clicks.

Comments

True for any tool

[Gilgaron]

A pen nominally allows more uninterrupted creativity than a quill and inkwell would, but mostly they get used for jotting down the grocery list.

Re:True for any tool

[Anonymous Coward]

True enough, but the pen doesn't send a copy of your grocery list and location back to Apple/Google, and then present you with an offer for slightly less expensive carrots if you join Amazon Prime during your next visit to Whole Foods.

Re:True for any tool

[MightyYar]

But they don't get used to read other people's grocery lists.

Don't blame the tech ...

[Anonymous Coward]

See, the problem isn't the technology, it's the humans.

As much as visionaries come up with things they think will lead to a better world, the reality is cat videos, narcissism, and porn are what people really want. The internet is more about teenagers taking selfies these days than it is about improving the human condition.

Unfortunately, you can't force people to do what you envisioned would be their potential.

Re:It's not a technical reason

[Jerrry]

Google search results always favor sites selling something over sites offering information. That's okay, but I'd like to see Google add a tab at the top of the search results (where the All, Shopping, Videos, Images... tabs are) to exclude all sites selling the object of the search.

I doubt this'll happen, though, as the companies that represent Google's revenue stream wouldn't stand for it.

Misdirected rage

[argStyopa]

Sounds like he's complaining more about human nature than anything to do with mobile computing or google.

Just like every other technology

[Shotgun]

And the father of TV thought it would be used for education and to bring symphonies to the masses.

Instead, we have exposed the dregs of the human soul.