From: Lucian Mogosanu Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2017 19:51:30 +0000 (+0300) Subject: posts: 064 X-Git-Tag: v0.10~12 X-Git-Url: https://git.mogosanu.ro/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=f74bbbf73523a9b05e185f664eaee59d821c4189;p=thetarpit.git posts: 064 --- diff --git a/posts/y04/064-interests.markdown b/posts/y04/064-interests.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cf6f28 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/y04/064-interests.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,121 @@ +--- +postid: 064 +title: Things that interest me; things that don't interest me +date: September 12, 2017 +author: Lucian Mogoșanu +tags: asphalt +--- + +Like any person aspiring to [humanity][humanity], I have interests -- +not in the "oh, I like picking flowers and listening to grasshoppers" +sense, although those kinds of interests aren't any less important than +my professional interests related to computing, which are the subject of +this article; and certainly not in the "oh, I like web programming, but +in the back-end, and with Java and Go" sense. If you're reading this, +there's a chance that you're looking at the prospect of hiring me or +doing business with me in some other manner. In this case, you'll find +that I'm very picky, and pointedly (I know I'm repeating myself) not in +the "I like only PHP and MySQL" sense, but in a sense that may prove to +be considerably more irritating to you. + +I have described my philosophy on computer engineering on more than one +occasion[^1], so if you've read this blog before, then you should be +acquainted with it. Assuming however that you're not, read on. + +Let us enumerate the **negatives** first: I believe that the field of +computing -- including the branch of mathematics known as computer +science and the branch of engineering known as +computer/[software engineering][software-engineering-iii] -- has gone +horribly wrong. The human race has amassed a somewhat limited amount of +knowledge in the last few millenia; yet the size of computer systems +keeps growing and, moreover, academic papers keep getting published on +various related subjects. This means only that the level of noise in the +areas of computer industry and science is continuously increasing, not +even accounting for the fact that information and knowledge are in +general not equivalent. This is the thesis, and it's not really up for +debate. + +This having been said, I am not interested in adding to the pile of +nonsense; firstly because the market already contains very capable +people doing this; and secondly because I firmly believe that this +approach won't improve the understanding of current issues, quite the +contrary in fact. I might be interested in taking away from the pile, +much like searching through trash may in principle yield useful items, +but adding anything is not on my to-do list. + +Moreover, I am not interested in contributing to the current +[academic hogwash][academic-hogwash] machinery. I believe written +communication to be very important, yet most academic writing is done +for all the wrong purposes, i.e. publishing targets, and not from any +clearly distinguishable causes. The solution to this problem is simple: +I have a personal blog that will remain public for the foreseeable +future, and I otherwise don't see much value in feeding publishing +businesses. + +As for the **positives**: I firmly believe that engineering -- including +programming, building electronic circuits or what have you -- as an +intellectual activity consists firstly of reading, understanding and +taking apart that which does not adhere to proper specification, and +only then specifying and implementing in a very precise manner. In any +case, any sane result of implementation can itself only be a product to +be read, understood, verified and fit-in-head. + +Thus I am interested primarily in understanding and acting from that +understanding, and pointedly not towards imagined things. I am +interested in building technology inasmuch as it can be proven +[unambiguously useful][tools]; and I am interested in building scholarly +items that build upon the classics and that future generations can use +to build upon. I am interested in teaching these items to others; and +more, some of which delve into the esoteric, but that you will have to +find out by asking. + +Things that may deter me from making business with you: mainly your +ideological inclinations. That is, "agile" "team"work forms without +substance, [marketing][marketing] buzzwords and +[politically correct][political-correctness] attempts at +brainwashing. Also, your lack of a trustable [GPG key][pgp]. Things that +in principle encourage me to make business with you: mainly your money, +which make the substance of any business relation more so than +"excitement", "fulfillment" and any other concocted nonsense. There is +of course much more to it than that, but this "more to it" is built in +time, which decides my skin in your game based on how sane your business +is -- primarily "sane", not "exciting", nor "changing the world", etc. + +Skills that I have which you might find valuable: I can communicate in +probably any programming language you know, but I don't think this is +very relevant. I am a systems guy, thus you will rather want me poking +at implementations and specs, reading, understanding and reverse +engineering computer systems. If we're to work together, you will very +likely gain a lot from my disagreeing with you, regardless of whether +I'm wrong or not, and trying to reach "consensus" will most likely lead +you nowhere (in general). + +This about sums up my professional interests and non-interests for the +next ten years or so. What now? + +[^1]: I.e. most articles on [technical][tech] topics, highlights + including [the myth of "software engineering"][software-engineering] + series, the post about [the usefulness of tools][tools], the one on + [formal "verification"][reversing-lists], the ones about + [trust][trust] and [security][security], and others. + + You probably haven't read any of the items mentioned above and it's + likely that you are too busy to do so. Sadly, this says more of your + intellectual maturity (or lack thereof) than my inclination towards + throwing words on a paper. But who am I to judge. + + Anyway, you could at least bother to look at my [CV][about]. + +[humanity]: /posts/y01/032-your-worth-to-humanity.html +[tech]: /tags/tech.html +[software-engineering]: /posts/y02/03c-the-myth-of-software-engineering.html +[tools]: /posts/y03/052-on-the-unambiguous-usefulness-of-tools.html +[reversing-lists]: /posts/y03/057-reversing-lists.html +[trust]: /posts/y03/059-the-problem-of-trust.html +[security]: /posts/y02/04a-on-security.html +[about]: http://lucian.mogosanu.ro/about +[software-engineering-iii]: /posts/y03/04e-the-myth-of-software-engineering-iii.html +[academic-hogwash]: /posts/y02/045-academic-hogwash.html +[marketing]: /posts/y02/043-on-the-failure-of-marketing.html +[political-correctness]: /posts/y01/02e-on-the-inherent-harmfulness-of-political-correctness.html +[pgp]: http://lucian.mogosanu.ro/about/pgp.html