After a decade of intensive technopolitics engagement it is time to share own experience acquired contrasting code logic and politics operations on local processes and society in general. Computer programmers and politicians are mutually allergic to each others' trade. The politician aspires to achieve their interest by reading opinion and influencing perception while the programmer analyses logic flow on processes and sets forth to clean coding bugs to ensure consistent end results.
Quite naturally, programmers get frustrated with politicians for creating opinion and impressions over an what essentially is pure and simple logic; Yes or No, 1 or 0 yes binary representation. Consider it futile to politicise and give life to bug, likes of - the computer misunderstood my meaning and the printout misquoted what I typed on the keyboard, the program does not work because it does not like my tribe or people from my region, the code was written by my political enemies or the programmer hates me, among others impressionistic creations.
Conversely, the politician dislikes rigid computer programs that fail to read the mood of the people, accommodate compromises - especially those open source programs that cannot have secret sub routines (program modules) to selectively reward loyalists on their their political aspirations. The Internet 'animal' those programmers created should be approached with extreme caution. Local experience has proved time and again that it ruins more than builds one's political career. Therefore, cautions politicians must avoid postings to blogs and websites and writing emails which can used against them by their political enemies in future because the technology has vast memory storage capacity and it never forgets anything. You see, in politics there are permanent friends or enemies and when differences are resolved politicians bury their hatches. Thus the Internet fails miserably to accommodate this very important component of political development in our society. Programmers whom believe that life is about pressing buttons to activate programmed human beings to act in limited predefined manner need to be told that people are not some futuristic robots.
While its programmers are easier to define, politicians are not. Anyone that can sit behind a computer and write one or a few lines of code qualifies as a programmer by right. But politicians range from actors on domestic and neighbourhood disputes, competing employees at workplaces, officers pursuing personal agendi, corporations out to control public opinion through fantasy and often misleading advertisements to the usual suspects on national political office aspirants.
It's easier to settle for Wikipedia's politician 29 October, 2011 definition as:- “A politician or political leader (from Greek "polis") is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest, right of inheritance (see also: divine right) or other means. Politics is not limited to governance through public office. Political offices may also be held in corporations, and other entities that are governed by self-defined political processes.”
As per declared blog purpose, the intention is to continually reflect on the differences between political and programmers approaches to societal development and prosperity. There shall be sharp posts and soft ones, off topic for fun entries and where or if possible a few general photos or video clips.
Finally, it would be appropriate to declare my bias towards programmers being one by right.
Quite naturally, programmers get frustrated with politicians for creating opinion and impressions over an what essentially is pure and simple logic; Yes or No, 1 or 0 yes binary representation. Consider it futile to politicise and give life to bug, likes of - the computer misunderstood my meaning and the printout misquoted what I typed on the keyboard, the program does not work because it does not like my tribe or people from my region, the code was written by my political enemies or the programmer hates me, among others impressionistic creations.
Conversely, the politician dislikes rigid computer programs that fail to read the mood of the people, accommodate compromises - especially those open source programs that cannot have secret sub routines (program modules) to selectively reward loyalists on their their political aspirations. The Internet 'animal' those programmers created should be approached with extreme caution. Local experience has proved time and again that it ruins more than builds one's political career. Therefore, cautions politicians must avoid postings to blogs and websites and writing emails which can used against them by their political enemies in future because the technology has vast memory storage capacity and it never forgets anything. You see, in politics there are permanent friends or enemies and when differences are resolved politicians bury their hatches. Thus the Internet fails miserably to accommodate this very important component of political development in our society. Programmers whom believe that life is about pressing buttons to activate programmed human beings to act in limited predefined manner need to be told that people are not some futuristic robots.
While its programmers are easier to define, politicians are not. Anyone that can sit behind a computer and write one or a few lines of code qualifies as a programmer by right. But politicians range from actors on domestic and neighbourhood disputes, competing employees at workplaces, officers pursuing personal agendi, corporations out to control public opinion through fantasy and often misleading advertisements to the usual suspects on national political office aspirants.
It's easier to settle for Wikipedia's politician 29 October, 2011 definition as:- “A politician or political leader (from Greek "polis") is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest, right of inheritance (see also: divine right) or other means. Politics is not limited to governance through public office. Political offices may also be held in corporations, and other entities that are governed by self-defined political processes.”
As per declared blog purpose, the intention is to continually reflect on the differences between political and programmers approaches to societal development and prosperity. There shall be sharp posts and soft ones, off topic for fun entries and where or if possible a few general photos or video clips.
Finally, it would be appropriate to declare my bias towards programmers being one by right.
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