Defeating AIs with a screwdriver

Computer science is a liberal art

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I remember years ago Steve Jobs talking about programming.

It was that period when I went down the street with my 992s and black turtle neck. Nowadays, I don’t consider another human being a person I would like to be.
There are people I consider geniuses, but I’ve changed. I have TAOCP volume two ready to be read near the bed, but this is another story.

.. I view computer science as a liberal art.

Steve Jobs

I must admit that I needed to go online to find out what a “liberal art” is. Ten different sites, ten different answers. Times have changed, so let’s ask ChatGPT.

“Liberal arts” refers to a broad category of academic disciplines essential for a well-rounded education. These disciplines typically include literature, philosophy, history, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, and languages.

ChatGPT in response to “What is a Liberal Art?”

Steve was right?

Yes, he was. Programming a system as sophisticated as a modern CPU and an OS is something everybody should do. I’m not talking about creating a brand-new Operative System. Take a short JS class and open the Dev Tools for a quick for-loop and a simple if-then-else.

This is an OS, a very simple one. Do you think this sounds weird to you? It needs to be odd for you! I am a middle-aged developer and forgot what a $ was after some years without touching ASM.

Give programming a chance. Could you do it? It will change your life. It’s not a very big change if you don’t want to! But remember, when you program, you have to use something slow.

Now, when I wake up, I optimize things. When a gargantuan NPM-filled UI framework performs a cold start I go and make a coffee in parallel. As well as I optimize the filling sequence of my dishwasher.

What am I talking about? Strange stuff! But remember, something strange is always interesting. And you will smile the first time you eat that segmentation error, that infinite loop, or, who knows, what nebulous condition?

See you, and run away from that On!

@online{zaerl2024-computer-science-is-a-liberal-art,
  author = {Francesco Bigiarini},
  title = {Computer science is a liberal art},
  date = {2024-04-01},
  url = {https://zaerl.com/2024/04/01/computer-science-is-a-liberal-art/},
  urldate = {2024-04-01}
}

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