Mastodawn

Just read an interesting article [1] and watched a talk [2] about making digital drawings/sketches/visualizations dynamic and reactive, more or less by directly interacting with them on the virtual canvas rather than writing code.

I am a bit amazed and especially impressed by the software presented in the talk [3]. It lets one procedurally build (probably) any imaginable vector visualization by drawing shapes and hooking them and their properties up to input data or other shapes.

[1] Ink&Switch – Inkbase - Programmable Ink (2022): https://www.inkandswitch.com/inkbase/
[2] Bret Victor – Drawing Dynamic Visualizations (2013): https://vimeo.com/66085662
[3] Bret Victor – Additional Notes on "Drawing Dynamic Visualizations" (2013): https://worrydream.com/DrawingDynamicVisualizationsTalkAddendum/

#inkandswitch #BretVictor #visualization #diagram #proceduralgraphics

Inkbase: Programmable Ink

What would be possible if hand-drawn sketches were programmable like spreadsheets?

Wisdom in Space Dec 10

Back in the days of Roman numerals, basic multiplication was considered this incredibly technical concept that only official mathematicians could handle. But once Arabic numerals came around, you could actually do arithmetic on paper, and we found that 7 year olds can understand multiplication. It's not that multiplication itself was difficult. It was just that the representation of numbers--the interface--was wrong.
-- Bret Victor (Apple Human Interface Inventor)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #BretVictor #Computers #Knowledge

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Rainbow #MississippiRiver #Iowa

N-gated Hacker News Nov 19

🖥️ Ah yes, another 2013 YouTube relic where Bret Victor foretells the 'Future of Programming' with all the clairvoyance of a Magic 8-Ball 🤖✨. Spoiler: we're still waiting for hoverboards and his prophetic code utopia. 🙄🔮
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4 #FutureOfProgramming #YouTubeRelic #BretVictor #TechPredictions #CodeUtopia #Magic8Ball #HackerNews #ngated

Bret Victor The Future of Programming

YouTube

Hacker News Nov 19

Bret Victor the Future of Programming (2013) [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4

#HackerNews #BretVictor #FutureOfProgramming #Video #TechInnovation #ProgrammingInsights

Bret Victor The Future of Programming

YouTube

N-gated Hacker News Jul 10, 2025

🤖 Ah, Bret Victor, bless his heart, still clinging to the fantasy that computers should be "humane" and "dynamic" instead of just smart enough to replace us all 😅. Meanwhile, while he's busy inventing new words and fantasizing about utopias, #AI has already conquered our spreadsheets and is eyeing our jobs 👀. Keep dreaming, Bret!
https://dynamicland.org/2024/FAQ/#What_is_Realtalks_relationship_to_AI #BretVictor #Utopia #Automation #FutureOfWork #HackerNews #ngated

Dynamicland FAQ

Hacker News Jul 10, 2025

Bret Victor on why current trend of AIs is at odds with his work

https://dynamicland.org/2024/FAQ/#What_is_Realtalks_relationship_to_AI

#HackerNews #BretVictor #AIs #Technology #Innovation #HackerNews #Dynamicland

Dynamicland FAQ

Wisdom in Space May 17, 2025

Worrying about sentient AI as the ice caps melt is like standing on the tracks as the train rushes in, worrying about being hit by lightning.
-- Bret Victor (@worrydream)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #BretVictor #ArtificialIntelligence #Computers

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Canyon #SlickRock #IcebergCanyon #LakePowell #Utah

Wisdom in Space Feb 17, 2025

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #BretVictor #Computers #Knowledge

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #GreatSandDunes #Colorado

ティージェーグレェ Dec 11, 2024

Ah neat, Dynamicland has a new intro video (well, new as of August, 2024) where Bret Victor explains the idea of communal computing that Dynamicland has co-created as a proof of concept as well as Realtalk, the programming paradigm that Dynamicland uses.

This video is probably the best representation of what Dynamicland is, without being spatially present and able to interactively co-create with others in the physical space and with others that I have seen so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q9r-AEzRMA

I only visited the physical space in Oakland once and I guess since the pandemic, maybe it doesn't exist where it did previously? (checks website, apparently they are working on building a new space in Berkeley, California for "communal science" at present: https://dynamicland.org/2024/The_communal_science_lab.pdf) I remain fascinated by the potential of such things and hope to see such paradigms become more widespread.

To me, Dynamicland was way cooler than the sorts of interfaces Minority Report showed on screen through the wonders of Hollywood "magic" (and a big special effects budget).

IIRC, even though Dynamicland have their own programming language paradigm Realtalk; the core kernel was implemented in Lua? It seems as if Realtalk-2024 is maybe looking to shed its previous prototype bootstrapping languages and become self hosting? (More about that here: https://dynamicland.org/2024/FAQ/#Is_Realtalk_a_programming_language)

Regardless, super amazing stuff! Probably the coolest tech I have seen in decades. It's difficult for me to get excited about a lot of the stuff I see, but Dynamicland was actually awesome, not just a "gee whiz" tech demo.

#Dynamicland #Realtalk #CommunalComputing #OpenSource #BretVictor #Lua