Legendary computer scientist Alan Kay on what makes an artist

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Alan Kay (on my birthday, no less) for a forthcoming magazine article, and near the end of the interview he made some insightful remarks about what sets artists apart. The remarks aren’t going to make it into the magazine article, so I thought I’d share them here:

“What most of us don’t realize about artists is that, in order to let ideas happen, you have to let a lot of bad ideas happen. And in order to let ideas happen at all, you have to be open.

“And if you’re open, you’re going to feel pain a lot of the time. To be open is to be open to everything. Nobody knows how to filter it. So a lot of the process is, for these people, somewhat painful.”

Wise.