Research
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Research

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This page is a bit out of date. I'll put up a new, better organized version soon. Some of the links might not work — try the Wayback Machine if needed.

"Computers aren't the thing. They're the thing that gets us to the thing." —From Halt and Catch Fire

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Communications Design Group, 2014
Communications Design Group, 2014
Alan Kay with Xerox Alto
Alan Kay with Xerox Alto
Margaret Hamilton with Apollo Guidance Computer Code, 1969
Margaret Hamilton with Apollo Guidance Computer Code, 1969

Library

Collections

Aggregations of interesting or important content.

Computing History Hub (Molly Mielke)

Classic HCI Demos (Jack Rusher)

Computer Utopias (Chris Novello - RISD) ⭐️

Quotes (Bret Victor)

Folklore (Andy Hertzfeld)

Bookshelf (Patrick Collison)

Labs (Patrick Collison)

Progress (Patrick Collison)

Silicon Valley History (Patrick Collison)

Future of Coding (Steve Krouse)

Research Labs

How can we recapture the magic of Xerox PARC and Bell Labs? What structures and cultural attributes support great work?

TAOR: A History (Vi Hart) ⭐️ — This elegantly captures the feeling of groups like these.

Excerpts from Alan Kay's Emails (Bret Victor) ⭐️

Mervin Kelly, A Biography (John Pierce) ⭐️

Art-Based Research (eleVR) ⭐️

Musical User Interfaces (Arthur Carabott)

CDG Research Agenda (Bret Victor)

The Crit (Kurt Ralske) ⭐️

The Power of The Context (Alan Kay) ⭐️

STEPS Research Proposal (VPRI, Alan Kay)

Alan Kay Interview (Ambitious) ⭐️

Lunch with Alan Kay (Steve Krouse) ⭐️

eleVR (Vi Hart)

CDG (Bret Victor)

HARC (Y Combinator Research)

VPRI (Alan Kay)

Learning Day (OpenAI)

#define CTO OpenAI (Greg Brockman) ⭐️

My path to OpenAI (Greg Brockman)

The OpenAI Mission (Greg Brockman)

Greg (Sam Altman)

Creative Thinking (Claude Shannon)

A Rubric on Rubik Cubics (Claude Shannon) ⭐️

Realtalk Tech Preview (Bret Victor) ⭐️

The Risk of Discovery (Paul Graham)

Local-first software (Ink & Switch)

We Need a New Science of Progress (Patrick Collison & Tyler Cowen)

Science is Getting Less Bang for its Buck (Michael Nielsen & Patrick Collison)

Miscellaneous

Still need to categorize these.

The Center of "Why?" (Alan Kay) ⭐️

Spatial Interfaces (John Palmer) ⭐️

The Future of Programming (Bret Victor) ⭐️

The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller (John Truby) - Recommended by Brianna from Stripe Press

The Creative Habit (Twyla Tharp) - Recommended by Brianna from Stripe Press

Twelve Tones (Vi Hart)

Creation Myth (New Yorker)

Experiment.com - Kickstarter for Scientific Research

Explorable Explanations (Vi Hart & Nicky Case)

Parable of The Polygons (Vi Hart & Nicky Case)

Bicycle for the Mind Thread (Steven Sinofsky)

Andy Hertzfeld (Tools & Craft)

Stu Card (Tools & Craft)

Ted Nelson (Tools & Craft)

LOT2046 (Vadik Marmeladov)

Lapka (Vadik Marmeladov)

Airbnb Samara (Vadik Marmeladov)

Cyborg Botany (MIT Media Lab) ⭐️

Elowan (MIT Media Lab) ⭐️

McMaster-Carr - Recommended by Alexander from The Long Now

Nonprofit Explorer (ProPublica)

The Whole Code Catalog (Future of Coding)

Augmenting Cognition (Michael Nielson) ⭐️

Laser Socks (Dynamicland)

Silk Pavilion (Mediated Matter Group)

Futureland (InternetVin) ⭐️

Longform Content & Books

As We May Think (Vannevar Bush) ⭐️

Augmenting Human Intellect (Doug Engelbart) ⭐️

Computer Lib / Dream Machines (Ted Nelson) ⭐️

Interview with Bob Taylor (Computer History Museum)

The Dream Machine (JCR Licklider) ⭐️

A Mind at Play (Claude Shannon) ⭐️

The Idea Factory (Bell Labs)

Inventive Minds (Marvin Minsky)

You and Your Research (Richard Hamming) ⭐️

Valley of Genius (Adam Fisher) ⭐️

Creativity, Inc. (Ed Catmull)

Mindstorms (Seymour Papert) ⭐️

Design & HCI

Weird Technology (Lia Napolitano)

The Future Has Hips (May-Li Khoe)

Humanities and Technology (Ashley Nelson-Hornstein)

Dieter Rams Documentary: Overview

Graduals (Tori Hinn)

Update: a bunch of the above talks from Layers were taken down, but they’re back up on YouTube.

Questions

  • How can a group of people work together most effectively?
  • How can we recapture the magic of Xerox PARC and Bell Labs?
  • What structures and cultural attributes support great work?
  • What is the best way to fund long-term endeavors that focus on research?
  • What’s the best way to nurture and identify talent?

Tools Holding Us Back

Communities - work in progress

Systems