Xah Lee wrote: > Software Needs Philosophers > > by Steve Yegge, 2006-04-15. > > Software needs philosophers. > > [...] > ---- > This post is archived at: > http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/04/software-needs-philosophers.html > > and > http://xahlee.org/Periodic_dosage_dir/_p/software_phil.html > > This essay is reported with permission. > > Xah > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ? http://xahlee.org/ >
Remember that this was a blog post from Steve Yegge that Xah Lee got permission to repost. It was a little long, and I got bored in the middle, but I think I understand (a little) Steve's point. He thinks we need software philosophers to break programmers' religious-like devotion to their languages of choice. I don't agree with this. I'd say we need software philosophers to help us see where software is taking us so that we can avoid bad spots if necessary. After all, the computer might just be the cotton gin of our time. We might be virtually enslaved by our own information if we don't watch out. Philosophers have the ability to think long, to think big, and to think about the future, and to think about the consequences of actions in a rational manner. They would be able to warn us if we were about to do something stupid with our society. However, Steve Yegge's software philosophers only serve to eliminate programmer's passions for their programming languages. While removing irrational beliefs is a good thing, I see Yegge's philosophers moving through the software industry, destroying everyone's passions for programming, and, as a result, the software industry is destroyed. It's scary the way I see it. On the other hand, I support rational thinking, and part of supporting rational thinking is (presumably) having the courage to support rational thinking even when the results are not to your immediate liking. IOW, I have to support something that scares the bejeebers out of me. Yet on the other, other hand, if people think rationally, the quality of life can only improve. Boy, am I confused :) Fortunately, people have their passions, for both programming and life, and that's not going to change anytime soon. If it does, it'll be a very gray world indeed. Thanks again Xah for getting these brain cells working again. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
