Ivan Zhao's banner
Ivan Zhao's profile picture

Ivan Zhao

@ivanhzhao83,284 subscribers

CEO @NotionHQ. Tools for thought.

Shorts

New art direction for Notion Developer Platform. Less jazz. More techno.

New art direction for Notion Developer Platform. Less jazz. More techno.

21,240 次观看

Videos

ivanhzhao's profile picture

"I don't know who discovered water, but I'm sure it wasn't a fish." This is my most personal conversation this year. If you build with AI and care about avoiding slop, this interview might offer a fresh perspective. Alan Kay is my hero and a big reason Notion exists. He helped invent many things we consider "computers" today: the first personal computer at Xerox PARC, the GUI (which Steve Jobs saw and took to Apple), the desktop metaphor, and Object-Oriented Programming. Most people don’t know Alan cares and thinks more about humanity than computing. In this chat, Alan explains: — Humans lack built-in limits for once-scarce rewards. Marketers turn these into legal drugs. The Industrial Revolution amplified salt, sugar, outrage, and validation. — We swim in our blind spots. Perception is a reconstruction in the brain. Cut off feedback in an isolation tank and the brain starts dreaming while awake. — Media becomes our culture and environment, the water that fish can’t see. TV normalized what once seemed unthinkable, like reality TV. — New media imitates old media at first, hiding its true effects until it is too late. — Without education between human and tool, we create informational hydrogen bombs used by 100,000-year-old brains. — Point of view is worth 80 IQ points. Problem finding matters more than problem solving, but schools teach the latter. — Paradigm shifts make reality simpler and truer, like moving from Earth-centered epicycles to Kepler’s ellipses. — To have ideas, keep a "crazy room" and a "sane room." Let ideas rip. Avoid naming too early. Do not chase ratholes. — ... how to build tools that shape civilization for the better. Notion was directly inspired by Alan’s work from the 70s. This conversation is aligned with what we are trying to build at Notion. Alan's metaphors take time to absorb. It’s worth revisiting.

Ivan Zhao

124,415 次观看 • 8 个月前

没有更多内容可加载