The Human and the Machine
I was watching George Dyson’s interesting presentation at TED about birth of the digital computer, and something rather frightening occurred to me.
When I started out with computers, maybe 18 years ago, I was in awe of them. Computers and what they did were a closed book to me, the way a great musician’s work is shrouded in mystery for me, yet I was enjoying their output and imagining what else they would do. Pretty much everything surprised and delighted me. As I grew more familiar with their working and started writing code, my awe remained but it also transformed, to a kind that maybe a musics student feels when seeing a true master play.
The awe and delight pretty much remained as I grew closer and closer to the machine, I knew more, but it still was like seeing a loved one achieve a great accomplishment or part of a great orchestra that plays a fantastic piece. Seeing beauty even from inside inspires awe. Of course, I’m not suggesting that I was any good at any time, merely describing what I felt.
In general, it was a like a love affair. Every little things, even the hiccups were strangely endearing. I wouldn’t think of computers as a machine. Of course, the hardware is a piece of dead equipment, but there is something else in there and I think I felt it. The Ghost in the Machine. I was in love with the ideas behind the hardware. I never thought of myself as a master of the machine, or it just another tool like a can opener or something. We were conversing with each other and we took nothing for granted. If something didn’t work, it was neither my fault, nor its; the problem was in the communication.
But then my view started to change. I started to rely on certain things to work and certain things to go wrong. I started to view the computer as a terminal for information, as a tool for bilateral delivery of entertainment, data, software or communication with other humans. The machine started to get transparent in the process, the way your door is a transparent method of getting in and out of your home. The door is there, and you know how to use it, but the door itself is not at all important. The stuff and places on either side is what is important.
This change kinda creeped onto me. Today I was forced to think about it, and I was shocked and terrified to realize that most of that awe has shifted from the machine to other people. The machine is no longer there, only those who designed and built the hardware and software. I don’t know how to exactly explain my feeling, and my depiction here is not exactly accurate. But I have lost the reverence for the love of my life, and I am a worse person for it. And I am sadder, and certainly a worse programmer, which is ultimately the most important aspect of my life. Oh, I do write better code and probably design better today than any time in the past, but I am nonetheless a worse coder and programmer, because I have lost the sparkle, and the love and ability to be pleasantly surprised no matter what.
Let’s for a moment forget about the hardware. You see a neat elegant peace of code that makes you go “holy cow”. Who/what are you awing to? Is it the code (the art) or the coder (the artist)?
I remember I once read somewhere that art and the artists are inseparable entities. I certainly didn’t understand that statement, as anything that smells like philosophy makes me vomit. But maybe there is something in there for you.
Now that I think about it, It’s been a while since I last appreciated the code itself rather than the skill of the coder. Maybe it’s just part of growing up.
The good thing, for me, is that I study machine learning, which often times makes you go wow and brings you to your knees. Some of the new stuff are so human-like that they just seem like magic from an outsider point of view. Magic is amusing, but once you master it, it’s only the the magician’s skill that you can appreciate. Maybe it’s better not to learn how things work. Things will look way more entertaining and magical
No, I don’t want to trade knowledge for awe. That’s not a way to be, and probably many agree with me too (don’t you?)
And I don’t think my current view (or our current view) towards the machine comes out of knowing more, or even growing up. I think we are using them too much and too easily and getting too used to them. It’s changing the machine full of “magic” to a TV-typewriter! There is nothing interesting that doesn’t happen “in the cloud” and in the machine itself. In short, I think Internet has killed it, at least for me.
Take your revenge… Kill the Internet!
My first and foremost interest in computers was games, of course I’m talking about golden C64 days. After we shifted to PC’s and then when Windows 95 came, one day one my friends who was more interested in hardware told me that Windows changed computers to a media player to people. People don’t appreciate someone who knows how to “work” with computers anymore, they are not afraid to use them, computers are merely helping them in everyday life, rather than actually helping them doing something that was not possible before, like solving something or so.
He was happy when gaming consoles emerged, he was happy that now computers can return to their initial place rather than being a “toy”. I both agree and disagree with him and still think about it, even though he forgot the whole thing for a long time.
While we are at it, let me share something else with you. As you know, I love computers to the bone but the things we get from them is getting so much (and most of them are trivial) that we forget other aspects of our lives. Of course I’m talking about my life mainly and it may occurs to others too. There are very much different aspects in life that we miss by spending more and more time by computers. Maybe the most important thing is not knowing how to assign IP to your door knob so you can open it via your Cell phone, maybe gardening or visiting a relative is much more important.
I have alot to say about this matter and it’s already 0810.