[The bike is] one of the great force amplifiers of all time because it doesn’t detract from us–it takes everything we’ve got and amplifies it. Most computers today are sold like cars, where as many things as possible are done for you. You don’t have to understand how it works and, in fact, you don’t have to understand how to think because the most popular stuff is prepackaged solutions for this and that. When you put a person into a car, their muscles wither. You put a person into an information car, and their thinking ability withers.
A bicycle for the mind, redux.
Electronic Learning April 1994
(interview with Alan Kay, inventor of the Graphical User interface)
Author Judy Schuster
via web.archive.org
Alan Kay is surprised by how computers are treated as a commodity in the classroom, rather than as material to be shaped by students and teachers. He sees computers as being marketed like automobiles, they do as many things as possible for the user without requiring an understanding of how they work.