Ask HN: Alan Kay or DHH?

16 points

17 years ago

The quote I was looking for and still have not found is Kay referring to the problem that the best minds are absorbed by unimportant tasks that pay good money instead of solving meaningful problems.

While trying to find this quote today, google turned up this page: http://www.devtopics.com/101-more-great-computer-quotes/

See quote #53: “The best way to predict the future is to implement it.” – David Heinemeier Hansson

Not sure if this was a mistaken quote or if DHH is delusional. That part doesn't matter much. What is troubling is there are two comments at the bottom of this page. One reads:

"Hi Rob, Yes, when I was translating the article, I thought #53 was Alan Kay too. But apparently David Hannson is credited with saying it on many of the quote sites, so I’m not sure who was first."

Has it really come to this?

Bonus points for anyone that can come up the quote I was originally looking for ;)...

EDIT: not trying to bash DHH here. I was just adding some humor to my quest to find the original quote I was looking for. Still noone has been able to come up with any ideas.

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