Hello, World!

Hello, World!

That's a fitting start to the opening post of a computer programmer's blog. When programmers are learning a new language or environment, the first thing we do is execute a program to perform a trivial task, print that message by convention. This introduces us to the basic elements common to any program in that language/environment, apart from all the complications involved in doing something truly useful (creating windows, opening databases, etc.).

However, I don't intend to write much about programming here. I've had some ideas on various things recently, in particular insights in science, that I wanted to "put pen to paper," to use the now-dated metaphor. It's mainly for my own psychological benefit, although maybe I'll have some readers who will enjoy reading those ideas. Here's a little about me, to offer the perspective from which I write:

First, I love the sciences, always have. Science fills me with excitement and wonder in the same way religion does for most, but for the exact opposite reason. Science is always pushing back the boundary of what we know, revealing a universe of great order and beauty. The organizing agent is, of course, not an Intelligence (for that is a form of order which requires an organizing agent) but Natural Law. Natural Law, on the other hand, is not a form of order and requires no cause; it is the foundation of both causation and order. Science never says, "we cannot know, so you must just believe." (Science rarely says there are things we cannot know, and when it does, it specifies a highly-delimited limitation of knowledge and leaves it at that.)

For the same reasons, I'm equally skeptical (nay, disdainful) of religion which does command "Believe!" The authority to be believed is one or more of a "holy" book, a prophet, or the sect's current witchdoctor(s). The reasons given that they are the final authority is invariably a circular argument.

A:   Believe the Bible.
Q:   Why?
A:   It's the word of an omniscient, infallible God.
Q:   How do you know?
A:   The Bible says so.

Logic does not, of course, permit such circular reasoning. The religionist's retort: "Who needs logic?" (Answer: "You do!")

Which brings us of course to the ultimate and proper authority for human knowledge: Reason, whose method is logic. This is a concept well-grasped by the Enlightenment-age intelligentsia and politicos, but is sadly eschewed by those of our age. Reason puts your mind in touch with reality, validates your ideas, provides absolute and objective knowledge — and it is the only thing that does.   From Reason, egoism, individualism, and capitalism logically follow, by a long and detailed chain of reasoning I have learned elsewhere, and you can too.

(The method of religion, on the other hand, is called Faith, although it hardly deserves the moniker "method." It amounts to, "Believe it because you feel like it," a behavior which Ayn Rand aptly described as "putting an 'I wish' before 'It is'."  With faith, you can "confidently" believe anything at all, including "If I die while killing you, I'll be richly rewarded in the afterlife," which is why it is such a horrible, dangerous, and deadly thing.)

On other areas, I love being a daddy. Watching a little mind develop is another thing that brings joy and wonder. I'll describe more about my beloved son soon enough.

At chess I used to be quite good, but now play too rarely. I play piano, and in my youth I achieved a certain measure of skill. However, I am only marginally talented at music, thus I have a definite upper bound beyond which practice and skill-development cannot take me. Still, I enjoy playing and singing, but I don't expect to win any talent competitions.

When we happen to catch them at dinnertime, my wife and I enjoy Idol, Got Talent, Dancing, and Survivor. My two don't-miss TV shows now are Dollhouse and Lie to Me. I read mostly nonfiction. I finished Greene's The Elegant Universe on string theory not long ago, and I'm currently reading Dawkins' The Greatest Show on Earth about the evidence for evolution. (I've long known the broad principles, and I'm enjoying learning many specific details.)

Finally, I created an elegant programming language based on Smalltalk and wrote a compiler for it. I think it's great, but I'm a terrible salesman or "community organizer," so I'm pretty much the only one who knows or cares about it. I plan to blog about that elsewhere.

That's enough for now. Cheers.