Fill in the Blank

[Alan Kay]

... like "Idea" ...

Cheers,

Alan

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At 1:43 PM -0700 6/9/02, John Steinmetz wrote:
>"The music is not in the piano" works because a piano is a 
>music-specific device. (It also works because it's obvious to almost 
>everybody where the music must be if it's not in the piano.) The 
>blank in the phrase about the computer can't be filled so easily 
>because it is a nonspecific device, capable of simulating other 
>devices of many kinds, and additionally capable of new activities 
>still un- or under-developed.
>
>So no single word will fill the blank in that computer phrase, 
>unless it is a word of a different order.
>
>	John


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