Eating Mud.

I was unsure what to write in this blog post. Do I reveal my real reasons or do I substitute it with some half cobbled together statement about how I always loved computers and fixing things?

You can probably tell where I’m going with this. I have a confession, I was never into computers. I spent my childhood eating mud and running around the garden. If I’m completely honest I thought computers were for kids with glasses.

That was a statement from a naive child, not realising that I would end up working in the technology industry surrounded by some incredible people. I think it’s a natural reaction to be dismissive of something you don’t understand.

As I’ve grown older, like many people, my views have changed. I’ve learned to not only to appreciate but be amazed by computers and the people that can work them. The computer’s power, self-control, and logic, complex but without the emotional complexity of a human, sounds perfect right?

However, like most things, the corrupt nature of humans can play a part. Using that knowledge of emotional complexity, harnessing the power of computers for good or bad.

Witnessing things like NotPetya, Cambridge Analytica and Spectre was definitely a warning. However on the other side of the coin, things like changing the way we listen to music, helping solve global challenges (hopefully climate change), and medical diagnostics and surgery applications give cause for optimism.

Is everything too interlinked? Is our generation’s need for instantaneity and efficiency going to make society too reliant on computers? Should we be looking at improved governance for the internet?

Climbing out of this rabbit hole, to me it sounds like the good outweighs the bad. The good and the bad happens because of humans, lets just hope there are enough influential good ones around.

I want to at least have the option of which side to be on, so maybe that’s why I’m learning Software Engineering and from my exposure at work, I know I will enjoy it.