Inventing on Principle

Bret Victor's seminal 2012 talk introduces a profound framework for creative and professional life: organizing work around a guiding principle you believe represents something fundamentally right or wrong. Victor demonstrates his own principle—that creators need immediate connection to their work—through remarkable live coding tools, while exploring how historical figures like Larry Tesler, Doug Engelbart, and Alan Kay changed the world by fighting for their principles through invention.

6 sections · 20 lessons

Course outline

The Core Principle

  1. Immediate Connection
  2. The Cost of Delay
  3. Visibility Enables Discovery
  4. The Core Principle

Principle in Action

  1. Live Visual Feedback
  2. Time as a Dimension
  3. Algorithm Visualization
  4. Direct Creation
  5. Principle in Action

Three Paths

  1. The Craftsman
  2. The Problem Solver
  3. The Activist
  4. Three Paths

Historical Exemplars

  1. Larry Tesler's War on Modes
  2. Engelbart's Vision
  3. Kay and Stallman
  4. Historical Exemplars

Finding Your Principle

  1. What Makes a Valid Principle
  2. The Long Discovery
  3. Building Experience
  4. Principle to Action
  5. Finding Your Principle

Living by Principle

  1. Moral Not Opportunistic
  2. Invention as Activism
  3. The Choice
  4. Living by Principle

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