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Programming, like spoken language, is one way to express yourself. A lot of value is lost because otherwise apt people, with profound skill or potential in a gi

Programming, like spoken language, is one way to express yourself. A lot of value is lost because otherwise apt people, with profound skill or potential in a given vertical like medicine, cannot express themselves in digital terms. Moreover, non-technical people use Excel in amazing ways. It would be better if they knew how to program. The volume and distribution of technical labor is becoming more and more of a bottleneck to innovation. Every year that we don’t systematically introduce people to programming is another year where we forsake large amounts of innovation, and the economic value lost compounds, just like investments compound. There must be a large national effort to introduce young people and adults to programming.

salawat 7y ago
There is a curse there though. I've found fluency with how the computer actually works creates a great deal of friction with regards to trying to communicate with other people. I'm so tuned to there always being an underlying cause that even my day to day communication takes on aspects of subconscious Neuro- linguistic programming; I end up trying to constantly tease apart or divine the nature of the underlying semantic/experiential construction of relatively high level communication done with a new person. It's gotten so bad, I can't really comfortably engage in small talk, because to me, it feels like I'm fuzzing the other person and being fuzzed by them in return to the point I end up getting frustrated at the complete failure to set up meaningful communication. What this ends up looking like, is that with someone I know I can get into high throughput, deep conversations. If I don't know someone though, I end up having to noodle around and pry to desperately scrabble together enough information to put forth a credible attempt at meaningful communication where we both come out saying the same thing about the same thing to a high enough degree of confidence that I"m comfortable we formed a shared understanding. Also, any person that outright frustrates that calibration phase, or demonstrates excessive volatility in terms of being able to reliably recall things (see compulsive deceivers/gaslighters/liars) quickly finds themselves on a low priority tier for further communication in many instances. I don't like doing that, but every time I relent in the practice, I tend to get hurt.
- keenmaster 7y ago
  Let's say, arbitrarily, that you automatically connect with 20% of people, 50% of people take some work, and the other 20% aren't worth it. The 20% that aren't worth it can be further split into people who are very different from yourself, wallflowers, and antisocial individuals. If you are not eager to please, you will identify the last 20% easily. The trick, though, is that you can't automatically dismiss them. You must assess their importance to work or personal goals, and tread lightly if they are important. With the 50% who take some work, I've found that de facto talking to them like we're already friends helps unlock great conversations. I consistently take the small risk of seeming eccentric in order to get past small talk in my first conversation with strangers. I don't even do that to form lasting friendships. It allows me to make "temporary friends" wherever I go, making for a more pleasant day if nothing else. It also helps me have a stronger sense of identity. I feel more "generic" when I talk about generic things.
- admiral33 7y ago
  Natural language and non verbal communication are difficult. I have found that it can be especially difficult for some technically minded people such as yourself, while some people seem to do it effortlessly. I give this advice freely to my friends: you're a hacker, so hack it. There are an abundance of resources out there for learning social skills, I'd recommend selecting just a few and memorizing them using spaced repetition. These resources will give you social exercises, like asking how a cashier's day is going before doing business with them. I'd recommend memorizing each of the exercises as well, because you will never know when or where you will be able to do an exercise, despite the book(s) telling you it is critical to do each exercise in order, and only to continue reading after having done the exercise -- disregard the author in these cases. This won't make you a hot shot sales guy or a presidential candidate right away. Think of it as learning to program for the first time. In the beginning the language, syntax, memory allocation, and data types seem like "the" thing to know in order to code, and later on we laugh, because we were missing the forest for the trees. But the thing is, knowing those things are prerequisites to being able to build towards the larger picture of the system as a whole. When you memorize social skills and nuance, that knowledge will initially lie dormant in your mind, and that is an incredibly powerful place for it to be, do not feel guilty for not putting the tools to work right away. Then on some morning you might be in line about to order a muffin, and you might talk to someone in line, or the cashier. You might see some people joking around on a bus. You will start to see the things you've memorized coming to life, and you will have that "oh shit, I can do anything, can't I?" snap moment that comes for many good programmers and engineers. Some people might look down on you for memorizing social skills, so don't tell them. What they don't realize is that as an engineer, you invested more time in learning technical skills, and as a consequence of that you invested less time learning social skills. Everybody that has a "type A" charismatic personality has memorized/learned it as well, just in a different context. https://socialpronow.com/blog/books-improve-social-skills/#1 https://socialpronow.com/blog/books-improve-social-skills/#1 Also, many books will touch on the concept of confidence, or just have it generally implied. The easiest way to get it is through physical exercise. Cardio for clarity and weights for willpower.
beefield 7y ago
> Programming, like spoken language, is one way to express yourself. I am not a software developer, nor have any interest becoming one. What programming has given me is a Thinking superpower. Thinking as really slow thinking by Kahnemann. That's what I think is the reason more people should have a look at programming. To understand they can think better and way more efficient when using code as a supertool for thinking. Not necessary to produce a software product to sell, but just to enhance their own work/hobby/whatever.

salawat 7y ago

There is a curse there though. I've found fluency with how the computer actually works creates a great deal of friction with regards to trying to communicate with other people. I'm so tuned to there always being an underlying cause that even my day to day communication takes on aspects of subconscious Neuro- linguistic programming; I end up trying to constantly tease apart or divine the nature of the underlying semantic/experiential construction of relatively high level communication done with a new person. It's gotten so bad, I can't really comfortably engage in small talk, because to me, it feels like I'm fuzzing the other person and being fuzzed by them in return to the point I end up getting frustrated at the complete failure to set up meaningful communication. What this ends up looking like, is that with someone I know I can get into high throughput, deep conversations. If I don't know someone though, I end up having to noodle around and pry to desperately scrabble together enough information to put forth a credible attempt at meaningful communication where we both come out saying the same thing about the same thing to a high enough degree of confidence that I"m comfortable we formed a shared understanding. Also, any person that outright frustrates that calibration phase, or demonstrates excessive volatility in terms of being able to reliably recall things (see compulsive deceivers/gaslighters/liars) quickly finds themselves on a low priority tier for further communication in many instances. I don't like doing that, but every time I relent in the practice, I tend to get hurt.

keenmaster 7y ago
Let's say, arbitrarily, that you automatically connect with 20% of people, 50% of people take some work, and the other 20% aren't worth it. The 20% that aren't worth it can be further split into people who are very different from yourself, wallflowers, and antisocial individuals. If you are not eager to please, you will identify the last 20% easily. The trick, though, is that you can't automatically dismiss them. You must assess their importance to work or personal goals, and tread lightly if they are important. With the 50% who take some work, I've found that de facto talking to them like we're already friends helps unlock great conversations. I consistently take the small risk of seeming eccentric in order to get past small talk in my first conversation with strangers. I don't even do that to form lasting friendships. It allows me to make "temporary friends" wherever I go, making for a more pleasant day if nothing else. It also helps me have a stronger sense of identity. I feel more "generic" when I talk about generic things.
admiral33 7y ago
Natural language and non verbal communication are difficult. I have found that it can be especially difficult for some technically minded people such as yourself, while some people seem to do it effortlessly. I give this advice freely to my friends: you're a hacker, so hack it. There are an abundance of resources out there for learning social skills, I'd recommend selecting just a few and memorizing them using spaced repetition. These resources will give you social exercises, like asking how a cashier's day is going before doing business with them. I'd recommend memorizing each of the exercises as well, because you will never know when or where you will be able to do an exercise, despite the book(s) telling you it is critical to do each exercise in order, and only to continue reading after having done the exercise -- disregard the author in these cases. This won't make you a hot shot sales guy or a presidential candidate right away. Think of it as learning to program for the first time. In the beginning the language, syntax, memory allocation, and data types seem like "the" thing to know in order to code, and later on we laugh, because we were missing the forest for the trees. But the thing is, knowing those things are prerequisites to being able to build towards the larger picture of the system as a whole. When you memorize social skills and nuance, that knowledge will initially lie dormant in your mind, and that is an incredibly powerful place for it to be, do not feel guilty for not putting the tools to work right away. Then on some morning you might be in line about to order a muffin, and you might talk to someone in line, or the cashier. You might see some people joking around on a bus. You will start to see the things you've memorized coming to life, and you will have that "oh shit, I can do anything, can't I?" snap moment that comes for many good programmers and engineers. Some people might look down on you for memorizing social skills, so don't tell them. What they don't realize is that as an engineer, you invested more time in learning technical skills, and as a consequence of that you invested less time learning social skills. Everybody that has a "type A" charismatic personality has memorized/learned it as well, just in a different context. https://socialpronow.com/blog/books-improve-social-skills/#1 https://socialpronow.com/blog/books-improve-social-skills/#1 Also, many books will touch on the concept of confidence, or just have it generally implied. The easiest way to get it is through physical exercise. Cardio for clarity and weights for willpower.

beefield 7y ago

> Programming, like spoken language, is one way to express yourself. I am not a software developer, nor have any interest becoming one. What programming has given me is a Thinking superpower. Thinking as really slow thinking by Kahnemann. That's what I think is the reason more people should have a look at programming. To understand they can think better and way more efficient when using code as a supertool for thinking. Not necessary to produce a software product to sell, but just to enhance their own work/hobby/whatever.