develop commercial softwares or dieI only like to look at mathematically-oriented code. I could spend my entire life tinkering with command line code that hacks around with algebra and calculus.
I suppose that I am too stubborn to ever devote my mental energies to the gort agenda.
Alas, the gorts shall inherit the earth.
I refuse to get a "smart phone". I don't even want one. I'm just not impressed. Like I said, I am content to hack around with console programs that take some input and spit out the results.
For close to a 1000 years this land has been ravaged,first by the Arabs and then by the British. However,if you were to listen to a typical Indian economist you will come to know that "A NEW DAWN HAS BROKEN",that this country is entering a new "GOLDEN AGE".You are in a position to critique India, whereas I would never assume to do so. It is far too diverse and mysterious. Whenever I find myself giving credit to "Muslims" or "Arabs" for the mathematics I am so fascinated with, I always find myself wondering how much of this was inherited (or stolen?) from their "contact" with what is called "India".
I am sure I could be content with tinkering with command line programs and old algebra/geometry/trigonometry/analytic-geometry/analysis/calculus/physics textbooks for the rest of my days on earth. This world is moving too rapidly towards a cliff and cannot collectively apply the brakes. One has to count himself fortunate to be literate and able to appreciate what little one can understand of all we have supposedly inherited. They say we are standing on the shoulders of giants.
I am sure that there are more individuals than can be counted who wish we could slow down and appreciate what might be termed "outdated" ... And then there are those girls who are sold into prostitution by their own fathers to feed the family. They do not have the time for books. One has to count one's blessings and remember what a nightmare this so-called Golden Age will be for the marginalized and disenfranchised ... prison-culture, underground drug trade, weapons trade, sex trade ... in the nooks and crannies ... the so-called golden age sits on a heap of prisons and cities of tormented creatures living in Hell this very moment as I type these words. Maybe there really is no such thing as the mainstream society, that, in reality, there are just these countless individuals going through life, every now and then wishing they were dead or had never been born in the first place. All the hype about nations and "the human race" might be a grand illusion. There is just the will to live, the growling stomache ...
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Sorry for all these long responses. You created a monster when you told me that you like to read whatever I write.
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Software engineering is never something I aspired to. In 1998, when I first saw what is entailed in designing a "class" in C++ for handling "fractions" or rational numbers, I became fascinated with the not too subtle problems presented by decimal representations of real numbers which are limited in precision by memory bits. I wonder how many developers of "commercial software" are concerned with the mathematics. I suppose a great many are. My initial interest in programming was inspired by a Calculus instructor at a local community college from India (of all places
), Jay Dashabundu back in 1994. He was trained in mathematics but studying programming on his own. Previously I had no interest whatsoever, but I was soon captivated by the computer algebra system called Derive, and I became very intrigued. The TI-92 had a Derive-like CAS built in, which, I must confess, I am still rather impressed by. Although that was over 20 years ago, this is the extent of my interest in programming. We only have so much mental energy, and I cannot afford to pay too much attention to what is required to learn to become a "software engineer". I have to live and let live.
As for history and the classics, ironically, these are areas that used to be studied only by an elite class of scholars. Maybe you are one of the secret elites. Study what you will. The world is going to hell in a hand basket either way. Better still, recall Ligotti's words: "There will never be, and there never has been, a good time to be born."
To be honest, I am beginning to feel ill-equipped to critique human society and content myself to tinker away at studying a very small area of knowledge.
Life is depressing. Well, the Buddha told India this so long ago ... I learned from Schopenhauer that India is the cradle of all religion, and that what is best in Christianity is what it has in common with those world-renouncing elements in the lifestyle of the religious mendicants of India.
I can see why you might resent the call to "develop commercial software or die".
You see the gorts in charge, and you must be infuriated. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola builds dams causing villages to be flooded. You might suspect that your leaders will end up worshipping nuclear weapons. There is even some truth that the citizens of "super-powers" are more controlled and oppressed than some backward area ... and yet, as you know, the First World and the Third World walk side by side down the same streets all over this earth.
Look at the cities. The police protect the banks, but they are helpless to protect the individual from facing this world with no money and no bank account.
Please remember that I write with the awareness that I, myself, am most likely a perfect example of the reason why corporations are so eager to hire "techies" from India and other places to "build their software". You see, I am a dead beat who tinkers with mathematics, thinks slowly, and has had the tendency to go on decade-long drinking binges.
I consider myself one of the more high-functioning refuseniks, but, high-functioning or not, my general attitude is quasi-criminal in the eyes of the conventional. Any stengths I might possess are nullified by my negative outlook on life.
Whatever direction this world is moving in, they will seal their own doom if they actually think all these gadgets will make their lives easier.
I like what John Trudell said about peoples' obsession with always having the newest gadget. He said, "I already have a computer. What would I want an iPad for?"
Poor Raul of Paraguay, where the electronic devices are probably very expensive due to some heavy South American taxes (corrupt politicians?), is in need of a basic up to date CPU, one that would be available second hand in India for not too many rupees. Here too, in the United States, we are fortunate to have access to very low-end (yet relatively very powerful) notebook computers for a couple hundred dollars. Those who know a bit about computers do not need the latest and greatest.
We can remain 10 years behind, maybe even further behind, and still have a great appreciation for the technology.
Holden, I have a very contradictory relationship with technology.
In your hatred for the economists worshipping of their use of mathematical formulae to pave the way toward global economic dominance, I would just ask you to reserve a special place in your heart for your contradictory feelings about mathematics as a whole.
Even algebra alone is powerful and fascinating.
Please do not allow the army of gung-ho and ambitious techies rob you of your mathematical inheritence. I mean, I would prefer that you embrace the antiquity of mathematics along with your interest in classical literature.
I usually work on math problems until past midnight, and then try to pick up where I left off when I rise in the morning. I have spent a couple hours posting my brain farts here. Maybe I should try to resist turning on the computer first thing in the morning ...
... and yet, as Raul implied in his last post, I find myself wondering what Holden is going to come out with next. When you are writing off the top of your head, there is a great deal of dark satire to your wit. You know me. I love black humor.
I'll log off now before I find another typo. For every typo I correct I might add another two paragraphs of nonsense. Once again, it's high noon and I have yet to break fast. To be honest, I'm just another pathetic creature ensared in this cosmic accident. I so very strongly identify with the Hikikomori of Japan. It's just too much. There's no making sense of it. I see why many skip doing their laundry and sneak their quarters directly to the liquor store first thing in the morning.
I will once again attempt to get drunk on algebra as I hide in the soft asylum of my little room.
Just say no to alcohol poisoning.