Hey computer guy, listen to your mom!

I feel qualified to talk about this because I’ve been guilty of it to one degree or another over the years (as people close to me can attest), though as time goes on I try (and I think I succeed) about getting better at it. I think the issue exists in all professions (Leah and I had a conversation about it occurring in the design industry), but I think its especially prevalent in the technology industry.

I’m speaking of elitist, condescending, and just plain rude attitudes amongst those with (and without) knowledge of computers. These attitudes are far ranging. At one end of the spectrum is the “script kiddie”, who while annoying I find least irritating of the bunch. These are basically kids (regardless of age) who want to feel accepted into an underground culture, and also feel like they have a specialized knowledge that the majority of others don’t have. I honestly feel that this group isn’t emotionally capable of understanding how plain silly they are, usually because they’re young (pre)teens and aren’t mature enough yet. Yes, they use 1337 speak and claim to be amazing digital rogues because they download prepackaged exploits and post on message boards. They’re annoying, and I think any damage they cause should be taken as seriously, but they’re still growing up and we all started from a point less than we are now.

Moving up the scale, we come to the average tech person working in the support industry. I’ve worked in and around the tech support industry for a number of years now, and overall I’ve been lucky with the people (now friends) I’ve worked with, but I know a lot of glorified power users who make the end user feel like idiots because they don’t know how to clear their cache or defrag a disk. Granted – being in tech support is extremely frustrating sometimes, and there ARE a lot of end users out there that are slow, rude, or just don’t want to try. You have to blow off steam sometimes. But, the thing to remember is – the average end user isn’t interested in the inner workings of a computer – nor should they be. The computer is a tool, and while you should have basic knowledge of the tool you’re working with, the moment you start focusing more on the tool than the job you’re using it for, there’s a problem. If you’re working in tech support, your job is to know that tool inside and out. The end user’s is not. Blow off steam behind closed doors with your buds, respect yourself with rude users (civility is a two way street), but if a person’s just having a hard time, be patient and not “Nick the Computer Guy” (SNL).

At the end, we have “hackers” as the media has coined them, but often called “crackers” by those that are supposedly more mature. This is the group I really have my major beef with. I’ve been programming since I could read a C64 BASIC book, I know languages in the double digits, circuit design, ran a BBS and a large IRC network for years, exploited systems (in a different life), written a compiler, a file system, designed vlanned and routed networks with thousands of nodes, designed countless databases and an e-commerce system that pulls in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. I’m big into scientific computing for neural network simulations and cryptoanalysis. I’m no slouch when it comes to computer science. And I know this, and yes, sometimes I get a big head about it. But I try (and I might do this unknowingly, but I honestly try) never to make someone else feel bad or take advantage of someone else because of what I know.

*EVERYONE* has strengths. I’ve always wanted to learn more about automotive repair, but I just can’t get into it. I’m dumb when it comes to anything past basic car stuff. I can’t retain facts about recent history, I just can’t get interested about it. There are countless things that I’m both not good at and/or don’t want to be good at. Just as there are a lot of people out there that don’t know what a buffer overrun is, or how to analyze machine code with a debugger. We’re no more “important” because we know the difference between a stack and a heap. The excuse that all information should be free and open, and especially entitled to those in the know is such a pile of crap. If you’re really interested in how a lock works, buy a book on it, read about it on the Internet, buy one and dissect it, pick your own locks. You don’t need to go to someone else’s house, pick their lock, rummage around their house, then leave. If the kind of lock you’re interested in isn’t available or is too expensive – tough. Contrary to popular belief in certain circles, “knowledge” isn’t some inherent right that trumps any other. If you make the argument that there is such a thing as inherent rights, then privacy is just as big as knowledge – even when the person doesn’t have the aptitude to protect their privacy. Sure – it’s nice if someone shares their work with you, they help you learn, and you can be friends and life is great. But it’s also okay to put a lot of work into something and keep it for yourself sometimes too. It’s your right as the person who created it. I love open source software, I’m a big fan of Linux and have run it for 10+ years- but I also support myself by programming, both through my full time job and after work. And it’s not open source code, it’s closed and it’s mine, and I sell it. And perhaps someone could learn something from it, but they don’t have an inherent right to. They can if I offer it, but until I say “look at this”, they don’t have a right to take the most non-invasive peek at it. And no matter how smart you are, and no matter how many systems you’ve broken into, it doesn’t change the fact that intrusion is intrusion. A really good burglar is still a burglar. Not taking anything doesn’t change the fact that you still broke into the house. And because the home owner doesn’t have the knowledge or money to build a great security system doesn’t make it any more right.

I say the following not with condescension, but more as a plea: we all have our strengths, we all have our weaknesses. But we also all have to live in this world together, so instead of making someone else feel dumb, or taking advantage of them because you have a skill they don’t and you want something – try just being nice, patient, thoughtful, and respectful. Say your pleases and your thank yous, and don’t take without asking. Listen to your mother, the lessons you learned at 4 still hold true.

A Non-deterministic Universe

I don’t buy it! Maybe I’m just not smart enough to understand the math, but I’ve yet to hear a proof (that I understand) that proves that quantum mechanics yields nondeterministic results. Hidden variable or local realism or whatever – I don’t know what the contrary theory should be, and maybe its just the computer scientist in me, but I can’t understand how ultimately, at the most minute level, something is indeterminate. To me that seems to throw causality away, and I refuse to believe the universe doesn’t operate completely on causality at every level. The moment you say, even at the most ultra-nano-scopic level, that causality doesn’t take place, you throw all the rules of logic away, and anything can happen. I just don’t get how logically someone could support the position that something happens with absolutely no cause. And talk about probability all you want, eventually, you get to the point where particle X exists at point 5.13645322 instead of at point 5.13645323 – well, what caused that .00000001 difference? Nothing? It just happened for no reason? I don’t buy it! I don’t understand how you can defend such a position with the same logic you use to support the equations that supposedly went to suggest such an idea.

I say we live in a deterministic universe. I say if we rewound the big VHS tape of existence and replayed it, everything would play out exactly the same every single time, to each and every particle. EAT THAT FREE WILL

Yes, I honestly believe that.

A while ago Leah made the decision to become vegan, and since then we’ve had a number of conversations about it. Mostly it’s just me playfully giving her a hard time, though I do completely respect her choice – I think the reasons for it make sense. She comes at it from a stance that many farms treat their animals horribly and thus we shouldn’t support said farms. Since the vast majority make up this group, it’s almost a guarantee that if you’re eating an animal product, it was treated poorly. Though there are exceptions as noted by the Humane Farm Animal Care organization (http://www.certifiedhumane.org). While I’m not ready to take the vegan plunge, I would like to eat more off this list to better support humane farms over megafarms interested in the buck.

One of the things I’ve always kidded Leah about is something I actually do feel strongly about. The extremist end of humane treatment toward animals are the animal rights people who do not believe animals should be killed at all. Aside from any arguments against this, I believe if you’re going to extend rights to life past humans, you shouldn’t stop at animals, they should extend to plant (and fungi, protista, and monera) life as well.

I was doing research tonight and came along this blog post from veganfreaks (http://veganfreaks.org/index.php?id=38). It kind of pissed me off (as much as a random Internet post can). It was an animals right vegan who had run into people attacking his/her ideas with the idea of plant rights. Now while I’m sure there are people out there who will look for any side of an argument to be against radical thinking, there ARE people out there that consider all life to be equal.

It would have been pure lunacy a few hundred years ago to say a pig had rights. Yes, I’m sure you can find some reference to someone saying so, but the vast majority of society would think the idea of animal rights insane. Now such an idea is common place for a good number of people. However, mention plant rights and people think you’re just trying to be argumentative. Regardless of how species centric I think it is to say a life form doesn’t “matter” as much if it doesn’t have a nervous system, if that truly was an argument, what would be the problem in killing a stunned or anesthetized animal who led a free life? The argument is either the animal feels pain, or the animal has inherent rights. If its because of pain, numb it first and give it a good life, ala humane animal treatment. If its because the animal has inherent rights to live, then so by God does my little mushroom friend. And yes, I honestly believe that. I think it’s shameful and hypocritical to have a strong moral stance on one life and criticize someone for having a strong stance on another.

I honestly believe that all life has equal importance, as shown by nature and the circle of life. Besides the thousands of reasons we need plants, they have living cells, eat, have offspring, the same as any dog or human. It is no more inherently right to eat a carrot than a porkchop. It’s just easier to justify because the carrot doesn’t have a brain to feel pain. However, the easiest path is not always the right one – as any vegan knows who deals with difficult menu selections, giving up favorite foods, or criticism from other people.

It is impossible not to kill life. Our autonomic functions kill microscopic life constantly. Eating and drinking, regardless of choice of food, will always kill life in one way or another – survival of one life is always at the expense of others. It seems to me the most honest, natural, and sensible choice is to eat all life equally, in an omnivorous fashion. What’s important is this statement is outside how animals are treated – treatment of animals should be humane, regardless of if they are eaten or not. And I support Leah and people like her who boycott those who do not treat animals properly. I do not believe it is an issue of consumption – it is an issue of respecting life. People cannot always separate these two ideas. I support a world that supports life equally and eats life equally, for we all come from and return to the same Earth. And while I’ve already gotten the “eating equally” thing down, it’s time to work on the “supporting equally”. I invite anyone who eats meat like me to take a look at that website at the top to eat least eat meat/eggs/dairy that was treated well. Every little bit helps.

(And yes, I support artificial life as well)