Life as a Programmer

Programming is an art as writing is an art. We must separate ourselves from the real world and shift our minds to this small alternate universe. The rules are different here. As in writing, syntax shapes the content, and content creates meaning. Our egos are put on hold and sheer determination is the fuel of our creation. Our goal is to distill the logic to an accurate, precise definition, the programmer's thesis. We then surround our thesis with the support, to make it functional, readable, provable. Our job is to break apart an idea, analyze it's core, and then transform that into a functional model. The details are as important as the ideas. An exacting methodology must be applied throughout or we are doomed to failure. A bad writer creates work that is neglected. A programmer creates code that is lazy in bad form, neglected. Programmers and writers are one in the same, and only the audience is different.

The Future

Sometimes I wonder how I got here so quickly. It's like our brains have little switches that block out the past. All we get are fragments, little pieces of our life. Our lives slip by and all we can tell is that we have been there before. A memory, a reason for our actions. Some memories we can't recall, being born, being children. Our foundations are so important our brain blocked these off so that we couldn't mess with them. It's difficult for people to deal with the way they are. Everything we do is rational for some part of ourselves, otherwise we wouldn't be doing it. Sure it may seem silly to others, but that's why we are different from everyone else. Our social nature is due to the fact that we are as a people finding others who share our odd peculiarity and enjoying it with them. This is why there are universal identifications with others. Eating, Drinking, etc, are things that keep us alive and are therefore things that we all share in common. The foundations of being human. As children we learn to speak, how to share, how to deal with others. Can you remember a time when you didn't know how to speak? Unless you are feral, or have had a serious head injury, you probably didn't. The things we choose to cherish and the things we choose to fester, are only from our social lives. Although social doesn't have to mean with others, it also entails social with ourselves. Strong emotional moments, near-death situations are the things we remember most. It's scary and stressful to think about these things and yet our brain lets us do this constantly. But worse it lets us project the fears we have kept with us onto our present. This is both a safety mechanism, and at the same time for some people, a lifelong inhibitor. It tells us what could happen. What awful things could happen, or what amazing things could happen. For people that don't get pleasure from achievement or competition, many times this projection keeps them from doing anything dangerous. Which of course isn't always a bad thing. Yet it also creates a sense of fear, a strong desire not to deviate from safety. Our memories can control who we were, who we are, and who we will be. The past never catches up to us, it's with us either noticed or unnoticed.

Audience Makes All the Difference

Making the comparison between human beings and computers, is for the most part fairly simple. Apart from a few extreme examples, humans and computers are two fundamentally different entities. Yet, the written communication both us and our computer counterparts use is fundamentally similar. Audience makes all the difference. When a writer writes they are guiding their message to a general or specific audience, and a general or specific purpose. This is the same with programmers, programming for a specific function or a general solution, and a specific or general user in mind. A programmer's writing has syntax, grammar, style, and errors, as with writing. Both require editing and re-editing, checking for problems both syntactically and logically. The only real difference is the audience. A computer for instance requires a very specific set of words on the programmer's behalf to make it function properly. A writer's audience also has specific words that are required to convey a message properly. At the heart of the idea is communication. What the written word requires to communicate effectively to the audience, is essentially the same as what the computer code requires to convey the message to the computer. Programmers and writers think quite alike. There are good programmers and good writers, and the opposite of good writers and programmers. In the world of programming and of writing the best operators are those who can manipulate the audience to their purpose in the most elegant way possible.

I know everything, I know nothing

As a citizen of the "information age" I am obligated to revere the internet as a god-like magical object. Google, Facebook, Yahoo, E-mail, Banking, Plane Tickets, Route Planning, Chatting, Video Games, Friends, nearly anything my analog heart can desire is at my fingertips. What does it mean to know everything? Is it the ability to recall any information at any time? If that is the case then the internet allows us all to know everything. But, fortunately it doesn't mean that. Knowing everything means the ability to apply knowledge, not just recite it. You can describe the color green all you want, but until you see it you don't know shit about green. Of course colors are a polarizing example but you get the idea. This makes me wonder, how the access to everything, has changed our minds and ideas. Obviously I am a subjective viewer as I am on the internet right now. Wonderment, Lust for knowledge, Seeking understanding, Privacy, Solitude, all of these things have been affected by the internet. Our brains are mass aggregates of facts and trivia. You may know Charlie Sheen's lawyer's name, but can you pass the bar exam? It's not that our understanding has changed but the amount of information we know. That's why schools still exist. You can learn everything there is to know about particle physics, but can you function as a particle physicist. Certainly some people could, but many others could not. Some would argue that schools are just there to give you a diploma, proof that you have the skills that you claim to have. But I argue, you can just print your diploma off of the internet. I'm just kidding of course. Schools still serve a purpose as understanding institutions, although they are starting to be pulled less and less from that direction. With changes to our thinking style, that sounds weird to type. But it's true, we think differently from our parents, or our older siblings, or younger siblings. Most of us on the internet are multi-tasking constantly, often to the detriment of some or all of the tasks. If the way we think is changing then surely the way we learn is changing. The way our brains gather and collect information, what we think about, who we think about, how we define things as important. Everything about us is changing. I sort of went off topic but that is ok, so yeah.

TV is bad!

Isn't it weird when you change something small and different, yet it makes unforeseen changes that you didn't expect. I recently built a new computer to play video games on, also because my old one was going down the crapper. As soon as it was ready to sit on my desk it was there to serve my whims. I instantly put my other computer on the floor and began to install software on my new project. Everything was awesome until I went to go to bed. Where was it? I lie down in bed, picked up the TV remote and realized I didn't have a TV anymore. My old computer had served as my TV since I had started college, and I didn't realize how strange it would feel without it. It had filled a void in my life and the void was suddenly empty. But unlike the vacuum of space, there was nothing there to fill it. All these years TV was my way of not having to think. I didn't have to worry about stuff. I didn't need to think about what I was watching if I didn't want to. I was never at a loss of what to do. I'm not saying it's a terrible bad thing that the TV is gone. I'm just going through TV withdrawal. I didn't think it would affect me this way, but it has. Eventually I will get over it and begin to fill my time with non-television related life content. Habits die hard, but it's good to break them once in a while to give your life perspective.

Subculture: a social group within a national culture that has distinctive patterns of behavior and beliefs. Nerd: an intelligent but single-minded expert in a particular technical field or profession. What is Nerd Culture? That question makes me cringe. It sounds like something a TV reporter would say. Generalizing a concept into childlike terms to fit their audience. What is a Nerd? That question makes me cringe, but a bit less. Every person who makes the same Monty Python/Hitchhiker's Guide jokes, internet meme references, or t-shirts with words on them, you know who you are. The internet has all but killed any individuality we have as people. With the whole world connected, for any self-definitions that you have, there are guaranteed to be about 100+ other people with those exact same definitions. Why is nerd culture any different? When a defining characteristic of your subculture becomes a global phenomenon, something changes dramatically. Blog buzzwords of "geek chic" or "Better not bully a geek, he may be your boss someday." The same thing happened with countless other ideas. Yoga, vegan diet, tattoos, video games, innumerable fashion trends. Nerd culture is not different, it's just newer. After WWII we stereotyped all of Japan, Sushi, politeness, chop sticks, and samurai. Every subculture that reaches a critical population, eventually gets used for monetary gain. Nerd, black rimmed glasses, antisocial, good at using a computer, has no fashion sense, plays video games, likes D&D, reads comic books, is really good at school. This is the way we have stereotyped nerds. Personally, I fit some of these traits, but I wouldn't say I was a nerd. I know it's cliche to say, "I don't like to label myself" but who does. Old people do because they don't care, but they don't count. Nerds don't see themselves as nerds, they are just interested in the things they like. Unlike hipster culture, I use the term culture here lightly, if you call a hipster a hipster they will tell you that they are most certainly not, even though all of them drink PBR, listen to the newest local band, and ride the same fixed wheel bike. Nerd culture is special in that the people who are truly apart of the culture, don't really care about how other cultures see them, and they don't realize that they are part of a culture. It's like if people started idolizing salmon culture. Would the salmon really care? No, they are not cognizant of people caring about them. In ten years, there will be no nerd culture, it will be part of the national culture and with the advent of the internet and computers everyone will be a nerd. It's just like sports culture, it's not a culture because it is just part of life. As it will be with nerd culture. In my opinion as it stands now there is no nerd culture. Just people who enjoy the things that they enjoy. If my realization about nerd culture makes me not a nerd then so be it.

Thoughts about the mind

I used to believe that people were simple. I imagined the world through another person's mind. I could not fathom a world where a majority of someones thoughts were about sports, or television shows. But I know now that on Earth there doesn't exist one simple mind. Their may be uneducated minds, and some minds sharpened to a razor's edge. Most people make a conscious effort to appear in the world the way that they do. They don't just shamble around like a zombie, and then go someplace. Every person has ideas, problems, issues that they compete with on a daily basis. If we ever discount a single person we have thrown away everything that we know to be true about ourselves and humans in general. We may not always make rational decisions, but the decisions we make have a reason. Is a mind trained in higher level mathematics, different from a mind subjected to animalistic thought? The way an artist chooses what technique or color to use, a human chooses what they want to think about. What we think about is a choice that we make. We may think about something for an instant or for many years, but the choice to think about an idea is the choice we get. All we get to interpret our world is chemical reactions, and the best biological processing unit money can't buy. Our bodies are merely a way for our brains to interface with the world. I wondered how people could be so shallow with their thought, not testing or even trying to make themselves better at an academic pursuit. People don't enjoy thinking because it is difficult, it takes time. The enjoyment we receive from shallow entertainment is instantaneous. A direct shot of adrenaline to the animal part of our brain. Movement, flash, competition, simplicity. This is what the people want. This stuff is what "life" is made of. There are those of us, who enjoy a challenge of mental ability. Both laughing at the man who gets his balls kicked. But also laughing at the witty comment he says afterward. We solve problems, we create problems. We see the world as humanity vs. humanity, and we want both teams to survive. I have decided to split up the world into those people who enjoy thinking for themselves, and those who don't. It's the precise reason I despise mass religion. Who are you to tell me how the bible is "supposed" to be read? Hopefully as we move into the future, people will realize that the hero's of our society are the people who enjoy solving problems. The other people are the people we look to to distract us from those problems.