I am Bret Victor. And this is a picture of me abusing the foliage:
In the schools, I trained in the Way of the Electron.
On the streets, I learned the Way of the Algorithm.
And I mastered these paths, but they were false paths. Their followers knew only the Yang of Technology, and worshipped the Code. But technology has no soul, and code no conscience. And I despaired.
Yet I sought, and after many seasons, I discovered the Yin of Design. These followers studied people. not things. This path embraced human perception, human understanding, and human creativity.
I followed this path. And thus balanced, I was enlightened.
I am unhappy about this trend.
Immediate: Find brilliant, creative, like-minded people to collaborate with. I cannot produce anything while isolated and lonely.
Short-term: Revolutionize how people learn, understand, and create. Give artists the tools to express themselves unencumbered, and scientists the tools to diagnose and cure the world's ills.
Long-term: Reform our infantilized society. Give people the tools to resist and destroy consumer culture (ubiquitous emotionally-manipulative branding and advertising, materialism, artificial fashions) and the corporation's oligarchical control over employment, entertainment, and creativity. Return power, dignity, and responsibility to the individual.