Bill Atkinson: Hypercard

TWiT Tech Podcast Network
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2018–2025
YouTube
10K views · 10 years ago · interview · historical

A short clip from Leo Laporte's 2013 TWiT interview with Bill Atkinson, creator of HyperCard and the Mac's QuickDraw. Atkinson describes the philosophy behind HyperCard and how the idea came to him in a psychedelic experience.

HN people cite it as Atkinson's own account that HyperCard was inspired by an LSD trip, and recommend the interview as a great listen.

“Hypercard was inspired by an LSD trip”
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6 comments from Hacker News

t
@thought_alarm2025 · in “Bill Atkinson has died”
Bill Atkinson was a very fascinating guy. His interview with Leo Laporte from 2013 is a great listen. Here's a little 6 minute clip: An acid trip, and the origins of Hypercard. ▶ this video
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e
@ed2020 · in “Bill Atkinson: The philosophy behind Hypercard [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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n
@notarobot1232025 · in “Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface”
Related: Hypercard was inspired by an LSD trip which Bill explains in an interview (▶ this video)
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w
@willio582023 · in “How HyperCard got its color back”
HyperCard was before my time but I love learning about it. It's pretty easy to draw a line from HyperCard to the web and web apps we all use today. It's also funny because the creator of HyperCard (Bill Atkinson) thought up the idea wall on LSD on a park bench: ▶ this video
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p
@pwdisswordfish92022 · in “The Psychedelic Inspiration for Hypercard (2018)”
From the Laporte interview: "I'm 65. I can tell things I wouldn't [have] told if I were earlier. Hypercard was inspired by an LSD trip." ▶ this video
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t
@tzury2022 · in “The Psychedelic Inspiration for Hypercard (2018)”
This is perhaps the clip from the YouTube interview ▶ this video
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