About Japan -
"Japan’s very interesting. Some people think it copies things. I don’t think that anymore. I think what they do is reinvent things. They will get something that’s already been invented and study it until they thoroughly understand it. In some cases, they understand it better than the original inventor. Out of that understanding, they will reinvent it in a more refined second-generation version."
Predicting the Internet?
"The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it into a nationwide communications network. We’re just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people—as remarkable as the telephone."
Remember, this was 1985, when the computers being sold where I lived were IBM PC and Apple II clones and the Macintosh had just been launched in the US. The default OS was MS-DOS on most computers. Kids, like me, were learning to type DOS command-line instructions like "dir", "cd", "chkdsk", and other such jargon.
Predicting the iPad?
"They are OK if you’re a reporter and trying to take notes on the run. But for the average person, they’re really not that useful, and there’s not all that software for them, either. By the time you get your software done, a new one comes out with a slightly bigger display and your software is obsolete. So nobody is writing any software for them. Wait till we do it—the power of a Macintosh in something the size of a book!"
The above was in answer to a question about smaller portables, which in 1985 meant stuff like portable machines with very specific functions, like typewriting, spreadsheet, etc, like this one. Or these.
About life
Predicting the Internet?
"The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it into a nationwide communications network. We’re just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people—as remarkable as the telephone."
Remember, this was 1985, when the computers being sold where I lived were IBM PC and Apple II clones and the Macintosh had just been launched in the US. The default OS was MS-DOS on most computers. Kids, like me, were learning to type DOS command-line instructions like "dir", "cd", "chkdsk", and other such jargon.
Predicting the iPad?
"They are OK if you’re a reporter and trying to take notes on the run. But for the average person, they’re really not that useful, and there’s not all that software for them, either. By the time you get your software done, a new one comes out with a slightly bigger display and your software is obsolete. So nobody is writing any software for them. Wait till we do it—the power of a Macintosh in something the size of a book!"
The above was in answer to a question about smaller portables, which in 1985 meant stuff like portable machines with very specific functions, like typewriting, spreadsheet, etc, like this one. Or these.
About life
When asked what he was going to do for the rest of his life (he was 30 at the time of this interview), he quoted a Hindu saying, and said this -
"The key thing to remember about me is that I’m still a student. I’m still in boot camp. If anyone is reading any of my thoughts, I’d keep that in mind. Don’t take it all too seriously. If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away. What are we, anyway? Most of what we think we are is just a collection of likes and dislikes, habits, patterns. At the core of what we are is our values, and what decisions and actions we make reflect those values. That is why it’s hard doing interviews and being visible: As you are growing and changing, the more the outside world tries to reinforce an image of you that it thinks you are, the harder it is to continue to be an artist, which is why a lot of times, artists have to go, “Bye. I have to go. I’m going crazy and I’m getting out of here.” And they go and hibernate somewhere. Maybe later they re-emerge a little differently."
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