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The Recovering Programmer (2010)

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Re: The Recovering Programmer (2010)

#2

Post by hardwaregeek »

I've developed a theory that qualities such as empathy, subjectivity, even aesthetic need to be cultivated. You need to exercise them or they will abandon you. And being a programmer is not always conducive to these qualities. When you spend your time in the land of bits and bytes, 1's and 0's, it's too easy to see the world through the lens of objectivity.

But the world is not objective. As much as we try to claim objective knowledge, the world is too complex to be proven. We inevitably call upon models, we inevitable omit data, we inevitably read bias into our evidence. Instead by claiming our objectivity, we're sanctifying our subjective ideas. If I claim that Keynesian economics is objectively correct, I'm not giving an objective proof, I'm simply trying to sanctify Keynesian economics as an infallible truth.

And by making that claim, I'm neglecting the empathy to comprehend that other people very well have their experiences and their data that indicates Keynesian economics is false.

Re: The Recovering Programmer (2010)

#5

Post by manapause »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #2

I've developed a theory that qualities such as empathy, subjectivity, even aesthetic need to be cultivated. You need to exercise them or they will abandon you. And being a programmer is not always conducive to these qualities. When you spend your time in the land of bits and bytes, 1's and 0's, it's too easy to see the world through the lens of objectivity. But the world is not objective. As much as we try to claim o…

Your opening sentiment is what I believe to be the fundamental truth - but as much as I want to ask how you got there, I believe that would be cutting up the bird to find the song.

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comforted.” How can I work on comforting and disturbing the person in front of me in a way that elevates the both of us?

If one is engaged in appreciating, They probably aren’t judging? Sounds nice - maybe

Re: The Recovering Programmer (2010)

#6

Post by donatj »

> I've consciously tried to rewind, to go back to when programming was a tool for implementing my visions, not its own end.

I recently rebuilt a website I built in high school circa 2001 in a modern framework to make it more maintainable. It was PHP 3 / MySQL 4 when I built it. It only ran as it was with a number of polyfills for long gone language features.

The original site was wacky, completely different layouts for different pages, some with characters that tracked your mouse. A ton of creativity. I redesigned in 2008 into a reasonably standard blog format. Looking back during this latest rebuild I feel like so much was lost in that redesign.

The point of having a website when I was in high school was not to write code, it was a place to pour my ideas. Somehow somewhere in the last 20 years the means to an end became the end, and I am not sure how I feel about it.

I’m certainly not the well of creativity I once was, but at the same time the things I do produce are of much higher quality. Is that just the innate balance of life? I really can’t say. Getting older is strange.

Re: The Recovering Programmer (2010)

#7

Post by alextheparrot »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #2

I've developed a theory that qualities such as empathy, subjectivity, even aesthetic need to be cultivated. You need to exercise them or they will abandon you. And being a programmer is not always conducive to these qualities. When you spend your time in the land of bits and bytes, 1's and 0's, it's too easy to see the world through the lens of objectivity. But the world is not objective. As much as we try to claim o…

I wish more engineers would look into mathematical constructions of systems. Take something like Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem and apply it to your own thought process - it shows that it is fallible. The recognition that you can be wrong, and that you might not be able to see how you are wrong, to me provokes a careful, thoughtful scepticism of self.

We still need to face reality, so the sceptic can’t take over the asylum, but we shouldn’t act as if the patients monopolise faulty logic. Just the act of listening and trying to really understand what is being communicated, informationally but also emotionally, is also a view we get of ourselves from outside our local system.

Empathy is a lot like that. Understanding that others have had different circumstances, which led them to different thought processes, which we should try to understand and validate. There’s richness to be found in those differences as well. Deep understanding of another allows directness, vulnerability, and passion to shine phosphorescent.

Re: The Recovering Programmer (2010)

#8

Post by noneeeed »

manapause wrote: post #5
hardwaregeek wrote: post #2

I've developed a theory that qualities such as empathy, subjectivity, even aesthetic need to be cultivated. You need to exercise them or they will abandon you. And being a programmer is not always conducive to these qualities. When you spend your time in the land of bits and bytes, 1's and 0's, it's too easy to see the world through the lens of objectivity. But the world is not objective. As much as we try to claim o…

Your opening sentiment is what I believe to be the fundamental truth - but as much as I want to ask how you got there, I believe that would be cutting up the bird to find the song. “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comforted.” How can I work on comforting and disturbing the person in front of me in a way that elevates the both of us? If one is engaged in appreciating, They probably aren’t judging? Sou…

"cutting up the bird to find the song"

That is such a good phrase, is it a quote from somewhere?

Re: The Recovering Programmer (2010)

#9

Post by XVar »

noneeeed wrote: post #8
manapause wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your opening sentiment is what I believe to be the fundamental truth - but as much as I want to ask how you got there, I believe that would be cutting up the bird to find the song. “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comforted.” How can I work on comforting and disturbing the person in front of me in a way that elevates the both of us? If one is engaged in appreciating, They probably aren’t judging? Sou…

"cutting up the bird to find the song" That is such a good phrase, is it a quote from somewhere?

Seems like the original quote is from "Materialized Apparitions: If Not Beings from Another Life, What Are They" written in 1885 by Edward Augustus Brackett.

"Science may wrangle over the supposed movements of molecules and atoms, and the correlation of forces; may dissect the bird to find its song; but love alone shall set the boundaries of knowledge."

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