
Growing a Language (1998) [pdf] - altro
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/steele.pdf
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3JPLW
This is the text from a very clever 1998 OOPSLA keynote, which can be viewed
here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0)

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daodedickinson
"Master plans have two additional unhealthy characteristics. To begin with,
the existence of a master plan alienates the users ... After all, the very
existence of a master plan means, by definition, that the members of the
community can have little impact on the future shape of their community,
because most of the important decisions have already been made. In a sense,
under a master plan people are living with a frozen future, able to affect
only relatively trivial details. When people lose the sense of responsibility
for the environment they live in, and realize that they are merely cogs in
someone else’s machine, how can they feel any sense of identification with the
community, or any sense of purpose there?"

Here's a fine description of my despair under socialism. _sigh_

~~~
argonz
This is a common misconception, linking socialism with top-down bureaucratic
control (what is this passage really is about).

from google define: "a political and economic theory of social organization
which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange
should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole."

In my opinion "regulation by the community" is what is important, eg. there
are private coops. This regulation is consensus-driven by the workers and
people involved, direct action, locality etc.., it's not bad at all, on the
contrary you feel more connected.

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datapolitical
I've had a printed copy of this speech since I was in junior high; it's so
good, even if you don't plan to go into CS.

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0xFFC
I get "Forbidden" too.

update : after trying for a 10 min , I could dl it.

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kd0amg
I get a 403 on this link. The running theme is that Guy Steele avoids using
multi-syllable terms in the talk without defining them first. Getting only the
slides dampens the impact a lot. Video version:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0)

~~~
mikeash
Dude, spoiler alert!

