Man Made Code

God made the angels to show him splendor, as he made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity. But Man he made to serve him wittily, in the tangle of his mind.

Sir Thomas More, Man for All Seasons (Bolt)

The Mind’s Tangle

The story runs that above the entrance to ancient schools of philosophy a cautionary placard read: “Let no one enter who has not studied The Elements,” the reference being to that work of Euclid, the ancient mathematician, consisting of geometric principles, theorems, and proofs.

Abraham Lincoln, if only implicitly, had that enjoinder in mind when he himself sifted through the The Elements while riding horseback on the court circuit in 1840s Illinois.

Why would he or they study a work on geometry?

Neither Lincoln nor philosophers had ambitions to land surveying. Rather, they wanted to improve their skills in logic.

The thinking, at one time firmly ensconced in Western thought, was that The Elements were to be studied regardless of one’s intended profession because the very rigors of that work trained the mind to be more precise in its reasoning, i.e., in that singular human attribute by which we irrigate deserts, cure illnesses, construct cities, cultivate land, build worthwhile cultures.

(Consider that the next time you hear someone say, “Why do I have to study algebra? I’ll never be a mathematician.”)

Computer science and its close cousin, computer programming, are like that.

You may never engineer large chunks of software, but you will be expected to identify, analyze, and solve problems, skills that can be gained in abundance when you let programming move through the tangle of your mind.

The Dumb Computer

Microsoft has a new version out, Windows XP, which according to everybody is the ‘most reliable Windows ever. To me, this is like saying that asparagus is the most articulate vegetable ever.

Dave Barry

After all, the computer does not fundamentally solve a problem any more than a hammer builds a house. Primarily you are the one designing a solution to a computational problem.

Despite the popular notion, computers are as dumb as a box of rocks after you’ve taken out all the smart ones.

A computer is, almost literally, rock. It’s a series of electrical connections among a collection of silicon chips with a lot of clever etching.

Ok, maybe that’s a little unfair to the computer.

Maybe.

Still, it is closer to true than the thought that computers might someday exceed the sum power of all human reason.

No. Computers are dumb. They might do monumental things; indeed, the very reason we build, program, and use them is to do things we normally can’t without an awful lot of time, as in by the time our Sun goes supernova.

But just as they cannot build themselves, they cannot program themselves.

Nature Exceeds Any Computer

Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower.

Alan Kay, computer scientist and recipient of The Turing Award

In order that computers accomplish monumental feats, they do so at the initiative and original, creative thought proper to you the programmer. The marvel of machine learning algorithms, deep learning, the internet, and myriad other advancements in computational technology all come at the hand of the human person who provides the problem solving and the detail.

For the human being is singular in his rational nature. He grapples with the difficulties his mind uncovers. Upon finding a solution, he can sometimes effect it. But precise, orderly thinking, even if hidden in a tangle of creativity, is required.

The training afforded by learning to program a dumb computer helps build that type of thinking.

Among other things, this means that, when in the confines of a programming language, the computer will do precisely what you tell it to do.

Somewhere a former student of computer science tells the story of his first day of class. The professor had her desk equipped with tubs of ice cream, bowls, spoons, and the toppings. She promised to make every student an ice cream creation according to each student’s instructions.

When that student came up for his treat, the professor asked what he wanted and how he wanted her to make it.

“Well, first give me a single scoop of vanilla ice cream,” the student instructed.

With that, she promptly dropped a scoop right in his hand.

Stunned and a little sticky, the student would learn over the next several minutes that computers take you quite literally.

You mustn’t assume anything; your instructions must tend to the least jot and tittle. That discipline can be your Elements.