5 ms·

Ask HN: What place do you have for God in your life as a hacker?

7 points by julienreszka 8y ago

djsumdog 8y ago
I try to be respectful of peoples' faiths as religious was (and maybe still is) an important part of the evolution of civilization. But it's also important to realize the limits of faith and try to move past them. God doesn't have a place in my life as a hacker, except maybe as a foundation for writing fun though experiment blog posts like this one: https://khanism.org/faith/fate-and-destiny/ https://khanism.org/faith/fate-and-destiny/ Some hackers and coders do believe in God and are conservative and we shouldn't condemn people for that. At the same time, it's not important when contribution to the open source community. People just care that you want to contribute, and that people contribute useful stuff. It's not something that should be really relevant past that.
throwaway8879 8y ago
May not agree with everything Stallman says, but he's admirable nonetheless.
- abdelhamidem 8y ago
  I loled
lizardskull 8y ago
The top.
solveit 8y ago
The issue is mostly orthogonal to the things I do.
isodude 8y ago
Spirituality (to generalize), is what makes me tick in a sound way every day. As a creative soul it's always a little bit destructive every day to work on bits and bytes, if I loose sight on the bigger picture. The common job is bit rot and the spirituality is my resilvering. If I didn't there's no greater mean to why I'm doing my small part. It's easy to get lost in the corridors of logic.
SenHeng 8y ago
0. Hard atheist.
drakonka 8y ago
Not really the Christian God, but I definitely do have a place for spirituality in my life. For me spirituality is appreciating nature, taking care of my plants and animals, casually learning and delving into polytheistic nature-worship and other left hand path religions, and just letting my own curiosity about what else might be "out there" roam free. All of this is completely outside of my actual daily work, but taking an interest in these things in my spare time seems to provide a comforting balance to my mind.
croo 8y ago
What place do God have in a life of a wasing machine mechanist or a gardener? You write God with capitalized letter so it must be some kind of monotheism but I still have to ask which God? If the one in the Bible then as far as I know it directs your moral compass and gives you relief of your sins you bound to do from time to time.
supergilbert 8y ago
It's an interesting question that's too rarely asked. I find it surprising how many of engineers refuse God completely (as in, the concept of a creator).
julienreszka 8y ago
I communicate with God every evening to express my gratitude for the strength I had during the day to accomplish my wants and duties. Job 1:21 God Gives and God Takes Away
bdcravens 8y ago
Little. Not because I don’t believe, but because I do. I have read the text of my faith, and it doesn't support the puppet-master theology embraced in most churches.
joe_hills 8y ago
The religious leaders who tried to teach their followers about their ideas of gods may have been wrong about a lot of things, and right about others, but both can be instructive to research. I believe folks who are offered the responsibility of building and maintaining complex systems, or the skills to manipulate those systems even without authorization can benefit from studying different systems of ethics and morality as well. Even if you don't agree with a particular theological system or its teachings writ large, it can be instructive to question and explore why that religion promotes each of those teachings. It can be interesting to see what each taught once, but now sweeps under the rug. If curiosity drives you to hack, it may be rewarding for you to delve into the religious writings, traditions, and histories of cultures around the world! Give it a try!
ubertaco 8y ago
A substantial one, really. I'd go so far as to say my "life as a hacker" (or, well, software developer) has a "place" in my life with God, rather than vice-versa. Full disclosure: the rest of this post is going to be me talking about how Christianity in particular has a positive impact on my life. It got a bit longer than I expected it to, so it probably looks like a screed, but at least it's a positive one. :) My relationship with Jesus influences how I treat others; because he showed me the most profoundly self-sacrifical mercy ever, I am both motivated and reminded to show grace to others in how I treat them and interact with them. As it says in Ephesians 4: "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." This surfaces itself in emails, meetings, chat messages, code reviews...basically everywhere I interact with someone else. I don't always succeed, sure, but I know when I fail that there is both need for forgiveness (from the other person), available forgiveness (from God), and opportunity to learn and grow from it. My confidence in God's unfailing love and omnipotence help me to handle stress better (or at least, better than my anxious mind would without such assurances). Because I know that my future is guaranteed by God (Romans 8:18 -- "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us"), I am able to endure (or at least endure better than otherwise) in stressful or painful situations and to "count it all joy...when [I] meet trials of various kinds...[knowing] that the testing of [my] faith produces steadfastness", and to "let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4) This surfaces all over the place, when I do so successfully -- it's the area where I most often fail, personally. Tight deadlines, seemingly-doomed projects, team conflicts, bad management...all of those, if handled well, are growth opportunities. I'd sure like to be "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" with regards to my faith. The reward is worth the price there. This obviously also shows up outside of work, probably more often than it surfaces at work. In part, my drive to learn is fueled by fascination at the levels of ingenuity possible in the world we live in, and my belief that learning about that world is learning about facets of my own maker's skill and apparently-infinite ingenuity. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork", as David put it in Psalm 19. The circuits that guide the electricity powering the laptop I type this on, the logical foundations on which they're designed, and the chemical reactions in the laptop battery that provides the power to them are the result of studied observation into the systems and properties of the universe God made -- and we're nowhere near complete in our knowledge of that universe. And all of that apparent infinity just highlights how much larger the infinity of God's creativity and "engineering skill" are. "His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." (Romans 1:20) It's also fueled by a desire to improve so that I can be skillful in my reflection of that creativity, and use that skill in diligent work that I enjoy, while balancing that work with a "longer-term" perspective on its priority. While I'm here, I should do my best and enjoy the my labor and its fruits, but I also know that said labor or wages aren't my "everything". Solomon had a lot to say about this in Ecclesiastes, but in particular in chapter 2: "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind." This helps me to balance my priorities, while still encouraging diligence. It is a great thing to be able to enjoy the work I do (and I count myself blessed that I usually do enjoy it!), and it's a great thing to be able to enjoy what I'm paid for that work, but neither the work nor its profits are the point of my existence, nor are they my ultimate reward. In a way, it's like a camping trip: I'm not going to be staying in my campsite forever (or even for long, comparatively), but I should still take care of it, and enjoy it while I'm there. Entire books have been written on this subject (since the subject of "how does your religion affect your working life" is a pretty big one), but I think those few points are pretty relevant to this post in particular. I say all this not to say that I'm the best, or to try to shout out anyone with a different system of beliefs, or to advocate for some kind of religious hegemony among developers. I just thought it'd be helpful to express what I think is a not-often-heard viewpoint on HN: that Christianity can have substantial benefits for the life of software developers, at least based on how it's had substantial benefits for the life of this particular software developer.
forgottenpass 8y ago
> as a hacker? What a odd trait to get intertwined with one's religious views. Seems like a weird enough combination that if someone said they were at all related, I'd look for a third thing that's impacting them as a pair.

7 points by julienreszka 8y ago

I try to be respectful of peoples' faiths as religious was (and maybe still is) an important part of the evolution of civilization. But it's also important to realize the limits of faith and try to move past them. God doesn't have a place in my life as a hacker, except maybe as a foundation for writing fun though experiment blog posts like this one: https://khanism.org/faith/fate-and-destiny/ https://khanism.org/faith/fate-and-destiny/ Some hackers and coders do believe in God and are conservative and we shouldn't condemn people for that. At the same time, it's not important when contribution to the open source community. People just care that you want to contribute, and that people contribute useful stuff. It's not something that should be really relevant past that.

throwaway8879 8y ago

May not agree with everything Stallman says, but he's admirable nonetheless.

abdelhamidem 8y ago
I loled

lizardskull 8y ago

The top.

solveit 8y ago

The issue is mostly orthogonal to the things I do.

isodude 8y ago

Spirituality (to generalize), is what makes me tick in a sound way every day. As a creative soul it's always a little bit destructive every day to work on bits and bytes, if I loose sight on the bigger picture. The common job is bit rot and the spirituality is my resilvering. If I didn't there's no greater mean to why I'm doing my small part. It's easy to get lost in the corridors of logic.

SenHeng 8y ago

0. Hard atheist.

drakonka 8y ago

Not really the Christian God, but I definitely do have a place for spirituality in my life. For me spirituality is appreciating nature, taking care of my plants and animals, casually learning and delving into polytheistic nature-worship and other left hand path religions, and just letting my own curiosity about what else might be "out there" roam free. All of this is completely outside of my actual daily work, but taking an interest in these things in my spare time seems to provide a comforting balance to my mind.

croo 8y ago

What place do God have in a life of a wasing machine mechanist or a gardener? You write God with capitalized letter so it must be some kind of monotheism but I still have to ask which God? If the one in the Bible then as far as I know it directs your moral compass and gives you relief of your sins you bound to do from time to time.

supergilbert 8y ago

It's an interesting question that's too rarely asked. I find it surprising how many of engineers refuse God completely (as in, the concept of a creator).

julienreszka 8y ago

I communicate with God every evening to express my gratitude for the strength I had during the day to accomplish my wants and duties. Job 1:21 God Gives and God Takes Away

bdcravens 8y ago

Little. Not because I don’t believe, but because I do. I have read the text of my faith, and it doesn't support the puppet-master theology embraced in most churches.

joe_hills 8y ago

The religious leaders who tried to teach their followers about their ideas of gods may have been wrong about a lot of things, and right about others, but both can be instructive to research. I believe folks who are offered the responsibility of building and maintaining complex systems, or the skills to manipulate those systems even without authorization can benefit from studying different systems of ethics and morality as well. Even if you don't agree with a particular theological system or its teachings writ large, it can be instructive to question and explore why that religion promotes each of those teachings. It can be interesting to see what each taught once, but now sweeps under the rug. If curiosity drives you to hack, it may be rewarding for you to delve into the religious writings, traditions, and histories of cultures around the world! Give it a try!

ubertaco 8y ago

A substantial one, really. I'd go so far as to say my "life as a hacker" (or, well, software developer) has a "place" in my life with God, rather than vice-versa. Full disclosure: the rest of this post is going to be me talking about how Christianity in particular has a positive impact on my life. It got a bit longer than I expected it to, so it probably looks like a screed, but at least it's a positive one. :) My relationship with Jesus influences how I treat others; because he showed me the most profoundly self-sacrifical mercy ever, I am both motivated and reminded to show grace to others in how I treat them and interact with them. As it says in Ephesians 4: "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." This surfaces itself in emails, meetings, chat messages, code reviews...basically everywhere I interact with someone else. I don't always succeed, sure, but I know when I fail that there is both need for forgiveness (from the other person), available forgiveness (from God), and opportunity to learn and grow from it. My confidence in God's unfailing love and omnipotence help me to handle stress better (or at least, better than my anxious mind would without such assurances). Because I know that my future is guaranteed by God (Romans 8:18 -- "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us"), I am able to endure (or at least endure better than otherwise) in stressful or painful situations and to "count it all joy...when [I] meet trials of various kinds...[knowing] that the testing of [my] faith produces steadfastness", and to "let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4) This surfaces all over the place, when I do so successfully -- it's the area where I most often fail, personally. Tight deadlines, seemingly-doomed projects, team conflicts, bad management...all of those, if handled well, are growth opportunities. I'd sure like to be "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" with regards to my faith. The reward is worth the price there. This obviously also shows up outside of work, probably more often than it surfaces at work. In part, my drive to learn is fueled by fascination at the levels of ingenuity possible in the world we live in, and my belief that learning about that world is learning about facets of my own maker's skill and apparently-infinite ingenuity. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork", as David put it in Psalm 19. The circuits that guide the electricity powering the laptop I type this on, the logical foundations on which they're designed, and the chemical reactions in the laptop battery that provides the power to them are the result of studied observation into the systems and properties of the universe God made -- and we're nowhere near complete in our knowledge of that universe. And all of that apparent infinity just highlights how much larger the infinity of God's creativity and "engineering skill" are. "His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." (Romans 1:20) It's also fueled by a desire to improve so that I can be skillful in my reflection of that creativity, and use that skill in diligent work that I enjoy, while balancing that work with a "longer-term" perspective on its priority. While I'm here, I should do my best and enjoy the my labor and its fruits, but I also know that said labor or wages aren't my "everything". Solomon had a lot to say about this in Ecclesiastes, but in particular in chapter 2: "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind." This helps me to balance my priorities, while still encouraging diligence. It is a great thing to be able to enjoy the work I do (and I count myself blessed that I usually do enjoy it!), and it's a great thing to be able to enjoy what I'm paid for that work, but neither the work nor its profits are the point of my existence, nor are they my ultimate reward. In a way, it's like a camping trip: I'm not going to be staying in my campsite forever (or even for long, comparatively), but I should still take care of it, and enjoy it while I'm there. Entire books have been written on this subject (since the subject of "how does your religion affect your working life" is a pretty big one), but I think those few points are pretty relevant to this post in particular. I say all this not to say that I'm the best, or to try to shout out anyone with a different system of beliefs, or to advocate for some kind of religious hegemony among developers. I just thought it'd be helpful to express what I think is a not-often-heard viewpoint on HN: that Christianity can have substantial benefits for the life of software developers, at least based on how it's had substantial benefits for the life of this particular software developer.

forgottenpass 8y ago

> as a hacker? What a odd trait to get intertwined with one's religious views. Seems like a weird enough combination that if someone said they were at all related, I'd look for a third thing that's impacting them as a pair.