How to Invent the Future II – Alan Kay

I'm a bit skeptical of his implication that Xerox Parc created the computer industry in the sense that it wouldn't have happened otherwise. By investing millions in advanced systems they were able to invent the stuff a few years ahead of hackers with less resources but it seems to me most of it would have happened anyhow when the hardware got cheap enough.

Similarly with the modern rush towards AI, everyone pretty much can see it's going to happen but the likes of DeepMind with millions in funding and many of the brightest will probably get there first but progress there will happen with or without them.

This is part of the Stanford start-up course https://blog.ycombinator.com/author/y-combinator/