
computer scientist
, known for his early pioneering work on object-oriented programming
and windowing
graphical user interface
design, and for coining the phrase, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
He is the president of the Viewpoints Research Institute
, and an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles
. He is also on the advisory board of TTI/Vanguard
. Until mid 2005, he was a Senior Fellow at HP Labs
, a Visiting Professor at Kyoto University
, and an Adjunct Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT).
Alan Kay showed remarkable ability at an early age, learning to read fluently at three years old.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough.
By the time I got to school, I had already read a couple hundred books. I knew in the first grade that they were lying to me because I had already been exposed to other points of view. School is basically about one point of view — the one the teacher has or the textbooks have. They don't like the idea of having different points of view, so it was a battle. Of course I would pipe up with my five-year-old voice.
Simple things should be simple, complex things should be possible.
Technology is anything that wasn't around when you were born.