I love it that way? [Re: How much is my Squeak Image like Sourdough bread?]

jwalsh at bigpond.net.au jwalsh at bigpond.net.au
Thu Sep 22 01:39:54 UTC 2005


 
My (off-topic?, sorry) answer to this,

> It's somewhat ironic that Alan Kay, who urged his 
> group to "Burn The Disk Packs" 
> (http://www.smalltalk.org/smalltalk/TheEarlyHistoryOfSmalltalk_V.html) 
> is using an image which has basically survived from the early eighties 
> :-) But I love it that way.

is this, as I see it of course:
It is because Smalltalk is so aMAZEing.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maze> that most, including myself "love it that way". 
It is the original (apriori) goodie.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apriori_algorithm >.
The Object, toward which Smalltalkers Orient themselves, is fixed, like the fence surrounding a Kindergarten.
That fence plays the limiting role which Reason itself is supposed to supply, but which, in children, is still too underdeveloped.
Alan Kay (correct me if I am wrong), being a professional child behaviorist and a pragmatic knew that, all to well. 
He sought to nurture the Positive Imagination by limiting the Negative Reason.
So he gathered together some other adult "children" from a University to help him build a kind of Turing Machine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Machine> to frame his ideas, and encapsulate the imagination.
A machine which could squease the immagination like a lemon, "until the pips squeak".
He also knew that the child within us could never be extinguished:
That at each stage of our development, through to old age, we will behave just like a child.
Our Imagination growing ever richer with the years, but our capacity to use our inner Reason, as nature determined, held back.
That fence, formerly for our protection, then becomes our undoing.
Reflect upon the egg.
The shell  is so designed by nature, strong enough to protect the growing chicken within.
Too strong, it will not allow the chicken to escape, and it will die, before it can take breath of air.
JW




---- Hans-Martin Mosner <hmm at heeg.de> wrote: 
> Austin King wrote:
> 
> > Greetings Squeakers,
> > I am interested in the history of the Squeak 3.8 image.
> >
> > Metaphorically how much is my Squeak image like sourdough bread?
> 
> That's an interesting comparison (especially as I rather like sourdough 
> bread...)
> 
 ..
> :-) But I love it that way.
> 
> Cheers,
> Hans-Martin
> 
 



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