> Onward!

 : Tuesday

Breakthrough Ideas

A Breakthrough Idea is a short essay/talk designed to stimulate thought and refl ection among the computing community. The authors above were asked to respond to a set of questions posed by the co-chairs of Onward!. The authors could respond to any one of the questions, any set of the questions, or any other thought that came to mind after reading the questions. The authors were encouraged to use whatever genre or format they chose. The following were the questions:

What do you hope is false, but fear is true?

What do you believe shouldn?t be invented?

If you could delete any idea, technology, or event from computing history, what would it be?

If you could inject any idea, technology, or event into computing history, what would it be? What historical figure do you wish were here today and working on software?

What established principle in programming is overused and why do you think so?

What one is underused and why do you think so?

What speech would you want to make to all the software people gathered at the base of the Himalayas?

What speech would you want to make to all the world leaders there?

• ...to all the CEOs?
• ...to all the professors?
• ...students?

What is the least understood thing in computing that if only it were understood, everything would change?