I gotta say. Lately it feels like the internet is always trying to bait me into explaining something properly. My game has been a bit about not doing that because these ideas are old and others have already explored and explained the various tradeoffs involved in the choices I've been making.

However I'll do a bit more now than drop the datalisp.is link :P

What is metaprogramming? Do we metaprogram when we create feature branches in our version control system? Do we metaprogram when we give input to running programs? Do we metaprogram when we use type systems to prove things about our program? Do we metaprogram when we build machine learning models? Do we metaprogram when we package software? For me: "yes" to all of the above.

Isn't "metaprogramming" such a wide-reaching term as to be essentially meaningless? I believe that some words like "language" or "game" can be stretched to cover everything.. so rather than words they are more like perspectives. Metaprogramming is such a thing, it is a perspective, and it happens to be the perspective that I'd like to be able to employ more effectively.

Originally I was deep in math world looking to learn what the future of programming would look like, but I got increasingly frustrated with all the amazing tech they'd developed (the mathematicians) because it wasn't manifested in the cyberworld.... So I figured: I want to build distributed systems. In order to build distributed systems I need a concrete representation for data so that the peers can communicate.

Thanks to hn and lobsters I was aware of many possible representations but for various reasons I believe that canonical S-expressions are sufficient.. For the sake of argument let's assume this is the case; then suddenly there is a concrete place to manifest all the ideas.. okay so what ideas are most urgent? In my mind it is to explore the space of coordination-free programs and this space is spanned by datalog-ish expressivity. From there this name is born: datalisp... I sincerely believe that this is the easiest thing to agree on as a somewhat eternal foundation for further developments in software engineering, otherwise I would still be looking for that foundation.

However there are too many people who are not ready to move on from our current way of keeping score in society and it is hindering our ability to respond to reality. Afaict the highest priority is climate change (at the moment), everything else is noise. We should be working to bring people useful tools for coordinating a response to that crisis but instead I'm shunned, broke, homeless, etc. All because I refuse to be a part of the problem (and I refuse to be a "hero" so I don't do anything well enough for others to admire, I've been trying to leave space for some ambitious academic type or business type but I'm reaching the end of my patience).

What is the goal? why do we work towards it? For me the answer is clear: we need economics that are less vulnerable to the tragedy of the commons. The reason is we need a way to systematically curb pollution.

Now my approach is debatable but no one seems interested in even having the debate. This is perplexing.