I asked Claude to help me understand the power and importance of Smalltalk.

"Alan Kay conceived Smalltalk as part of a vision for 'personal computing' that was about more than just individual ownership of machines.

It was about giving people computational agency—the ability to understand, modify, and create their own computational tools.

In this vision, computers aren't appliances that run apps—they're malleable media for thought, as customizable as paper and pencil."