A couple of insightful observations about Malleable Software from Anthea:

It allows for a huge number of creations and variations.

But most people won't build big and complex things with it - there is freedom but also a lack of planning and ambition

Kid lego sets come along with instruction manuals and just the right pieces to build incredible things ... which kids do ... but then they leave them as static finished outputs rather than playing/composing/decomposing with them^[jb][jc][jd]."

But without a good recipe, most people will end up making pretty ordinary and predictable meals.

You can use a well crafted recipe to reach a higher peak, but often your ability to follow a particular recipe to get to a higher peak is different from your ability to create such a higher peak recipe yourself.

When do we want the flexibility of the well stocked kitchen?

And when do we want the recipe that shows us how to create something that is above our usual ability?

And when can we learn from these recipes so that we can then tweak them, making raspberry pie instead of the recipe blueberry pie, or vegetarian tacos instead of meat ones?"