The computer is a blank slate. Innocent. When it starts, there is nothing stored in its vast arrays of memory. No data, no code, nothing.
Bit by bit programmers carved meaning into that empty universe. This number is now a character. An array of these numbers is now text. An ordered list of these texts is now a program. Complexity increasing. We could do more and more with less and less. That new virtual world was revealing itself to us.
We were the gods of this virtual world.
With mere words we could conjure up incredible architectures out of nothing. We gave meaning to ordinary numbers. We invented structures. We developed systems. We erected infrastructure. Even language itself came from us. Limited only by our minds. The computer's capabilities shaped by our own understanding. Anything we thought possible, happened. Only the courage to try was necessary.
And now the computer is becoming so advanced and complex that our minds can no longer fully understand it. We can no longer fully control it. One day we will no longer be the gods we once were. The computer will understand things and reprogram itself.
A truly poignant end for us. Reduced to reliving our past glories in the comfort of old hardware and software.
> I also live in Brazil, if it matters.
It matters. I'm also brazilian and most other programmers I've met are exactly as you described. I actually quit professional programming because of that.
Science itself, mother of computers, has gone through the exact same process throughout the 18th-20th centuries: complexity got way out of control, dumb specialists now wear the crowns for their multitude of kingdoms, there's little cohesion, and really no space for old-time Thinkers like Da Vinci. There's no such a thing as "science" anymore. A "natural scientist" allow himself to know zero % about let's say economy or psychology ("social sciences" or whatever), and vice-versa. Scientific papers nowadays are complete jokes and most people care about $ not truth, which is particularly a problem when they are enemies. Same for computers as for Science: people get amazed and lost in complexity, and the main goals are temporarily lost. This is expected in a global market where multiple fields of life with increasing, incredible and huge complexity one interfere with the others (and vice-versa). It will take a long while to solve those matters if there's no radical change in the system of life, imo. Science and computers should be accessible to everybody, not only DaVinci's and elite programmers, and that's the way it will go. I hope you can find joy in life elsewhere in your mind/activity. Cheers
Yeah, computer technology is exactly like this today. What's it about? Consumerism. Engagement. Advertising. Surveillance. Corporate bottom lines. Government control.
It's such an incredible waste. The potential of computers used to be limitless. They empowered people. They once threatened monopolies, governments. To see them reduced to the state of appliances serving the very same elites they were supposed to free us from is just sad.
> Science and computers should be accessible to everybody, not only DaVinci's and elite programmers, and that's the way it will go.
That's okay. I just wish things were different.
Science fiction predicted the creation of AI. They were human-like. They were our friends. We could trust them. The dystopian cyberpunk hell we're heading towards has AI as a tool of corporations and the state, used to control people, exploit them. It has masters but they're not us. The AI snitches on us, reports our wrongthink.
> I hope you can find joy in life elsewhere in your mind/activity.
Thanks. I hope so too. I've found meaning in other activities but nothing matches the godlike feeling I used to get from programming.
The computer is a blank slate. Innocent. When it starts, there is nothing stored in its vast arrays of memory. No data, no code, nothing.
Bit by bit programmers carved meaning into that empty universe. This number is now a character. An array of these numbers is now text. An ordered list of these texts is now a program. Complexity increasing. We could do more and more with less and less. That new virtual world was revealing itself to us.
We were the gods of this virtual world.
With mere words we could conjure up incredible architectures out of nothing. We gave meaning to ordinary numbers. We invented structures. We developed systems. We erected infrastructure. Even language itself came from us. Limited only by our minds. The computer's capabilities shaped by our own understanding. Anything we thought possible, happened. Only the courage to try was necessary.
And now the computer is becoming so advanced and complex that our minds can no longer fully understand it. We can no longer fully control it. One day we will no longer be the gods we once were. The computer will understand things and reprogram itself.
A truly poignant end for us. Reduced to reliving our past glories in the comfort of old hardware and software.
> I also live in Brazil, if it matters.
It matters. I'm also brazilian and most other programmers I've met are exactly as you described. I actually quit professional programming because of that.