Comment by jackarg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jackarg | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

This is literally what I'm trying to convey in my personal statement for university. I'm thinking of studying computer science at uni (I'm in my last year of high school) and this is precisely my dilemma: how to keep my interest alive by focusing on the beauty of programming itself, automation, the abstract creative nature of it, while ignoring the overwhelming downsides: drowning in this virtual world that is out of touch with reality, in this mass of useless information, useless innovations, profit-driven apps, addiction to smartphones, etc. Consumerism as it was in the 60's, applied to everything digital.

I'd be more than happy to discuss this further with anyone as it's something that's preoccupying me a lot right now as I try to decide what to pursue in my studies.

Another thing that helps me cope with this tech world: hoping to be able to contribute to or work along standards such as those of Calm Computing (https://www.calmtech.com/), or TimeWellSpent (http://timewellspent.io/). Through things like these, and through the pessimistic view I have right now of the tech world, do my best to contribute to it in a beneficial way, more "ethical way." Basically, I'm motivated to work in tech to try to "shift" it a tiny bit, to fight the enemy from inside.

What you're seeing is the information equivalent of an endless, free salad bar with everything a human being could possibly eat available in unlimited quantities. There are high-quality veggies and hideous junk foods, clean water and toxic booze, fresh foods and spoiled. Go ahead, eat anything you want, as much as you want, whenever you want.

Whether this will be heaven or hell for you ultimately depends on whether you can carefully and deliberately develop "consumption" habits that support you in the long run. With proper care, the more options the salad bar offers, the better your chosen subset will get.

I largely agree with that sentiment, but it is difficult to separate oneself from the rest of a society that has made unhealthy choices. The market is driven by the masses and we participate in the market. The salad bar may be unlimited, but there sure are larger areas of it dedicated to serving the tastes of everyone else.

Yes, it's a perspective that I have to work to maintain. It's hard to constantly have to seek for the high-quality veggies and reconvince yourself that what you're doing is worth it.

> how to keep my interest alive by focusing on the beauty of programming itself, automation, the abstract creative nature of it, while ignoring the overwhelming downsides

Focusing on the thrill of programming while ignoring the downsides is how we got here. Maybe you meant "focusing on the beauty... while ameliorating the downsides". Anyway, you seem much more self aware than I was at your age, so I'm sure you'll do fine. :)

> focusing on the beauty... while ameliorating the downsides That's a great way to put it, thanks.

The second thing that worries me about doing compsci is the fact that I'll have to dedicate a huge portion of my life to staying in front of a screen. It bothers me a bit but for now it is outweighed by the advantages.

This also bothers me. There's something soul-sucking about screens once you spend more than 4 or so hours in front of one. And because I can't really put my finger on what it is about screens that has this effect, I can't come up with even a sci-fi version of a solution to this problem.

The closest I've come to even an inkling of a solution is the idea of a high-refresh-rate e-ink display and doing everything in a fullscreen terminal, because somehow my kindle doesn't have the "screen" effect on me. But I'm really not sure if this would actually be helpful, let alone plausible.

But you're a programmer, so you must manage no? I've actually thought about the e-ink display. I would immediately buy a very simple, lightweight e-ink laptop that allows me to do simple tasks.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com