Ted Nelson struggles with uncomprehending radio interviewer, 1979

TheTedNelson · 19.1K views · 2016-12-22 · 25:48

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Overview

A 1979 CBC radio interview in which Ted Nelson tries to explain how computers could serve as tools for thinking and visualizing. The interviewer keeps failing to grasp the idea, and Nelson patiently answers again and again.

On Hacker News

HN cites it as a vivid record of how alien personal computing and hypertext sounded to a skeptical public, and as a favorite Nelson interview.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2017–2024

Topics

History of computing Tech pioneers & interviews GUI, HCI & interface history

What people said

dangirsh · 2018-01 · Strong recommendation
My favorite Ted Nelson interview: [VIDEO] It gives a great perspective on Ted's prophetic vision for computers as well as the intense skepticism it raised in many.
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superphunthyme · 2024-07 · Reference
This one with Ted Nelson? [VIDEO] It's got the skeptical interviewer, and at 9:56 (with some lead-in before) there is a discussion of libraries, catalogs, tagging, etc. Edit: and then he goes on to mention Dewey Decimal as well.
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shawnz · 2021-08 · Criticism
The author's arguments kind of remind me of those of the interviewer in this 1979 clip with Ted Nelson: [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by TheTedNelson, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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