Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
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Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
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Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#2I’m sad that we no longer have any Ted Nelson’s in the world of tech. There’s simply too much money now for smart people to waste their time on “interesting” things.
Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#3Little known fact: Ted Nelson worked at DataPoint in the early 1980s, for a couple years. How many people have even heard of DataPoint anymore? They were hugely successful in the 1970s with their fancy terminals, arguably had the first personal computer, and viewed Ted as a prestige hire. It didn't work out well as they faded into obscurity.
He's mentioned in the third person in my book https://www.albertcory.io/the-big-bucks. but he doesn't appear as a character.
Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#4Instead of Ted Nelson telling the world what everyone can learn from him, I would like to hear him talk about what he learned from the real world.
Xanadu is probably the biggest vaporware in the history of computing.
Maybe some lessons learned about how he had all these “brilliant” ideas but never actually made something that actual people actually use.
But that would require humility, introspection, and self-awareness so it is not likely to happen.
Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#5Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#6Wish Lex Fridman would interview Ted!
Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#7I’m sad that we no longer have any Ted Nelson’s in the world of tech. There’s simply too much money now for smart people to waste their time on “interesting” things.
Not everyone is working at whichever shop offers the highest salary. There are many smart people who are willing to take a pay cut to work on interesting problems. There are some smart people who are already financially secure so that they could afford a pay cut.
Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#8Instead of Ted Nelson telling the world what everyone can learn from him, I would like to hear him talk about what he learned from the real world. Xanadu is probably the biggest vaporware in the history of computing. Maybe some lessons learned about how he had all these “brilliant” ideas but never actually made something that actual people actually use. But that would require humility, introspection, and self-awarene…
On one side the Xanadu implementations over the decades are a complete failure.
On the other side, imho some of the ideas will survive and one day make it into successful software projects. Good ideas aren't destroyed by poor excecution.
Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#9Instead of Ted Nelson telling the world what everyone can learn from him, I would like to hear him talk about what he learned from the real world. Xanadu is probably the biggest vaporware in the history of computing. Maybe some lessons learned about how he had all these “brilliant” ideas but never actually made something that actual people actually use. But that would require humility, introspection, and self-awarene…
but we now have roam research e.g.
Re: Ted Nelson on What Modern Programmers Can Learn from the Past (2018)
#10The subtitle says Ted was the inventor of hypertext, but in the interview he credits Doug Engelbart. You can hear him say it if you listen from 4:30 to 4:45.
"We thought computing would be artisanal. We did not imagine great monopolies."
Even though hindsight is 20/20, I'm still surprised that the power of network effects didn't occur to him (or whoever the "we" refers to).
"... artistic expression ..."
Reminds me a lot of when Jaron Lanier talks about how he envisioned VR.