Reflections, 05 Dec 2005
Considering why I like the things I do
I consider myself to be a perfectly ordinary, reasonable person with no particular aptitudes. I realize however, that my values and opinions are probably actually quite unusual, though, and so I'm inclined to describe myself to others in more extreme terms than I see myself in.
I'm a left-leaning, liberal, hyper-intellectual progressive who, despite occaisonal flirtation with gross elitism, really believes deep down that "all men are created equal", and that all life has value. These convictions lead me to feel like the two most important goals of human culture (and what is technology but a cultural artifact?) are 1) the enhancement of human relationships, & 2) creating more time. These are our only real possessions. How we relate to others, how we relate to ourselves - these things define every part of our lives, imbue it with meaning. How we spend our time is similarly critical - We don't know how much we have, but once its wasted, we can never get it back.
Technology can't create time. It can, however, make us more efficient in our use of time. It can do things for us which we would otherwise have to take time to do. It can extend our powers, so that the time of one person can accomplish what previously required the time of many.
Consider Alfred North Whitehead quote about the extension of the number of operations that can be completed w/o thought. Thought, though, is a chimera. Its true face is Time.
Money is just an abstraction for time, too, and like any other technology, has its value in helping us to more efficiently redirect human effort, to create more time (more leisure) for everyone. As efficient mediums, then, free markets are good; they help to re-allocate effort with relatively little overhead. However, as they exist in the real world, markets appear to create great wealth (excess leisure) for very few at the expense of very many. Slavery. Evil. No man should have more personal resources than the value of his expended time. If he does, then some other man's time has been stolen from him. A very slow kind of murder.
Computers participate in this temporal dance, in this give and take of the only commodity that really matters. Every time a poor user interface misleads, or a system crashes during an important operation, or a user's work is lost - every time that our time is being wasted, we're being murdered by inches. The computer is the weapon; the software producer is the felon.
Technology is interesting inasmuch as it
- contributes to the survival of our species
- enhances our relationships
- buys us greater leisure, or greater liberty
Liberty & Leisure are closely related.
Many (most, all?) of my personal interests derive from these convictions. I want to enjoy my life, and I want to enjoy working to enhance other's enjoyment of their lives. Computer interfaces feed into this. So does Operating Systems, Tai Chi, psychology, folklore, literature, drawing, algorithms, data structures, systems administration, space travel, science fiction, meditation. I am groping in the dark, and I don't know where I'm trying to get to. But today I had a rare flash of insight that led me to this journal entry. this is a lense through which I can try to understand myself; where I'm at & what I'm doing.
In the not-too-distant future I want to be a full-time scholar, finishing a BSc. in C.S. & then maybe an Msc. Whither then? I know not. But whatever I do - from stay-at-home parenting to teaching to programming to design to politics - I want to try to keep these things at the front of my mind. If I'm not protecting my leisure or liberty or enhancing my relationships with others or doing these things in aid of others, then I'm wasting my time. What a shame that would be.
(transcribed character-for-character from my journal, pages 115 and 116. (links added))
(relates to: meandering mauntering [sic], Long time no write)
I consider myself to be a perfectly ordinary, reasonable person with no particular aptitudes. I realize however, that my values and opinions are probably actually quite unusual, though, and so I'm inclined to describe myself to others in more extreme terms than I see myself in.
I'm a left-leaning, liberal, hyper-intellectual progressive who, despite occaisonal flirtation with gross elitism, really believes deep down that "all men are created equal", and that all life has value. These convictions lead me to feel like the two most important goals of human culture (and what is technology but a cultural artifact?) are 1) the enhancement of human relationships, & 2) creating more time. These are our only real possessions. How we relate to others, how we relate to ourselves - these things define every part of our lives, imbue it with meaning. How we spend our time is similarly critical - We don't know how much we have, but once its wasted, we can never get it back.
Technology can't create time. It can, however, make us more efficient in our use of time. It can do things for us which we would otherwise have to take time to do. It can extend our powers, so that the time of one person can accomplish what previously required the time of many.
Consider Alfred North Whitehead quote about the extension of the number of operations that can be completed w/o thought. Thought, though, is a chimera. Its true face is Time.
Money is just an abstraction for time, too, and like any other technology, has its value in helping us to more efficiently redirect human effort, to create more time (more leisure) for everyone. As efficient mediums, then, free markets are good; they help to re-allocate effort with relatively little overhead. However, as they exist in the real world, markets appear to create great wealth (excess leisure) for very few at the expense of very many. Slavery. Evil. No man should have more personal resources than the value of his expended time. If he does, then some other man's time has been stolen from him. A very slow kind of murder.
Computers participate in this temporal dance, in this give and take of the only commodity that really matters. Every time a poor user interface misleads, or a system crashes during an important operation, or a user's work is lost - every time that our time is being wasted, we're being murdered by inches. The computer is the weapon; the software producer is the felon.
Technology is interesting inasmuch as it
- contributes to the survival of our species
- enhances our relationships
- buys us greater leisure, or greater liberty
Liberty & Leisure are closely related.
Many (most, all?) of my personal interests derive from these convictions. I want to enjoy my life, and I want to enjoy working to enhance other's enjoyment of their lives. Computer interfaces feed into this. So does Operating Systems, Tai Chi, psychology, folklore, literature, drawing, algorithms, data structures, systems administration, space travel, science fiction, meditation. I am groping in the dark, and I don't know where I'm trying to get to. But today I had a rare flash of insight that led me to this journal entry. this is a lense through which I can try to understand myself; where I'm at & what I'm doing.
In the not-too-distant future I want to be a full-time scholar, finishing a BSc. in C.S. & then maybe an Msc. Whither then? I know not. But whatever I do - from stay-at-home parenting to teaching to programming to design to politics - I want to try to keep these things at the front of my mind. If I'm not protecting my leisure or liberty or enhancing my relationships with others or doing these things in aid of others, then I'm wasting my time. What a shame that would be.
(transcribed character-for-character from my journal, pages 115 and 116. (links added))
(relates to: meandering mauntering [sic], Long time no write)