HackerTube / Video
Carl Sagan: If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
pkrumins
A very short clip of Carl Sagan saying that to make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe. It illustrates how everything depends on a chain of prior things.
HN commenters use the quote as shorthand in arguments about abstractions, standing on others' work and the limits of building from scratch.
4 Hacker News mentions · 2017–2025