[HN Gopher] Bits with Soul
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       Bits with Soul
        
       Author : mrkeen
       Score  : 28 points
       Date   : 2025-05-19 16:48 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.darwin.cam.ac.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.darwin.cam.ac.uk)
        
       | flir wrote:
       | "When people think of codes, coding, and computers, they often
       | think of socially challenged nerds like me, writing "code"
       | (whatever that might be) in a darkened basement, all soulless
       | ones and zeros and glowing screens. But in fact computer science
       | (the study of information, computation, and communication) gives
       | us an enormously rich new lens through which to look at and
       | explore the world. By encoding everything in the same, digital
       | bits, we can mechanise the analysis and transformation of that
       | information; we can explore it in ways that are simply
       | inaccessible to manual techniques; we can engage our creativity
       | to write programs whose complexity rivals the most sophisticated
       | artefacts that human beings have produced--and yet fit on a USB
       | drive; we can even learn from data in ways that have made
       | "ChatGPT" into a verb practically overnight.
       | 
       | Given how closely digital technology is interwoven in our lives,
       | having a visceral sense of how this stuff works, what it can do
       | well, and how it can fail, is essential for us to survive and
       | thrive, and should be part of every child's education.
       | 
       | In my talk I will share some of the joy, beauty, and creativity
       | of computer science. This is serious, because it impinges on our
       | daily lives. But it is also rich, beautiful, and fun."
       | 
       | (Pasted here because it's not obvious where this one's going from
       | the landing page).
        
         | maxverse wrote:
         | Direct YouTube link:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2QWxT9a8HU
        
         | akomtu wrote:
         | Reducing the nature to "the same digital bits", seeing it as a
         | mechanism, is precisely the soulless nature of tech that the
         | normies are worried about, and it's probably why the nerds who
         | are too immersed in tech are so socially awkward.
        
           | marcellus23 wrote:
           | There's nothing inherently soulless about that.
        
         | timthorn wrote:
         | You perhaps missed the key point - this was Simon Peyton Jones
         | speaking.
         | 
         | I was fortunate enough to be in the audience; while the talk
         | was pitched at a lay audience, Simon is the type of speaker who
         | can make anything engaging and enjoyable to listen to
         | regardless of whether you know the material he's presenting or
         | have not the first idea.
        
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