I love software engineering. I love the process and act of thinking. My job is literal mind puzzles. And I love that. I love the process of learning. The reward when something you are trying to learn finally “clicks”. You’ve unlocked some new knowledge.

(I have talked to friends that mention it may not be worth learning something unless you use it often because you will eventually forget it all; if it’s not used it will atrophy). I would agree, but I still just love the act of learning.

Learning just for the sake of learning. Not to make money. Not for ego. Not for fame. Maybe a little of being better at work. So that you can spend more time learning the work thing; the knowledge specific to work and that domain.

It’s all layers of abstractions. If you understand the layers below you, you can build better things. Or build something novel; previously unthought of. Or maybe not build something at all because you would have built the wrong abstraction anyway because you didn’t understand the layers below.

“Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying.”

  • John Updike

I hope we don’t stop doing the thinking and guiding. I’m not as concerned about offloading all of our thinking, but rather that we become the followers.

This is where I ask ‘why?’ what are we trying to achieve? Do we really want a universal code to all things in life? Why? What are we trying to solve? Are there less costly ways with fewer tradeoffs to achieve our goals?

Keep thinking.