[ColorForth] Let's talk philosophy

[Jack Johnson <fragment@xxxxxxx>]

On Friday 30 November 2001 16:13, you wrote:
> >I fear that none of us will ever learn to do what Chuck does so adeptly.
> >He'll be the Tesla of computing.
>
> I love it when people praise Chuck in such a way that they put
> him on a pedastle high over the pathetic human race.  Yes, I'm
> sure he does too.

Actually, I'm not putting him on a pedestal.  In fact, if anything, it just 
shows that you've already put Tesla on a pedestal.

Tesla is long since gone, now, and still people are trying to understand 
where he was headed.  Some people say he was a genius, some people say he was 
crazy, and in the end it really doesn't matter which.  He left us some 
amazing technical contributions, and he provides an excellent example of 
using perspective to solve a problem.

Chuck has this.  Chuck has a nearly unique perspective on computing.  And, 
without a doubt, he is adept at what he does.  Is this better?  I'm certainly 
not the one to say.  I do know that though many of us can use Forth, no one 
does it quite the way he does, and I, personally, see value in it.  From 
where I currently stand (or sit, as the case may be), I think it would make 
me a better programmer if I could start to learn to approach problems the way 
he does, but only time will tell.

I lived in Alaska for about fifteen years, and one day I was on a boat with 
some friends on a river and saw this thing that looked like a waterwheel made 
out of wood and net.  My friend said that it was a fish wheel, that the 
Athabaskans had used them for centuries, etc.  Salmon swim up, the water runs 
down, so why not let the water scoop the salmon out of the river and into a 
pen?  You can lie in the sun and catch a year's worth of fish in a week.  You 
know, spend some time with your kids.

When you see it in action, and you think of the toil that Western fishermen 
have endured for millennia, even when they "cheated", it doesn't compare to 
the simplicity and efficiency of a fish wheel.  It took a different 
perspective to come up with that specific solution to the problem, and it 
seems ironic that nearly four millenia of "progress" didn't lead to a similar 
conclusion.

So, when I read Jeff talk about ideas like "getting it wrong, forever", let's 
just say I'm not suprised.  In the pocketful of decades that we've been doing 
this computing thing, I doubt even Chuck is doing it right (though I suspect 
he's on to something).

-Jack
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