SXSW 2010: Program or be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

[dementedd12]

@TheGzeus What I should also have added is what happens when the brain is combined with a computer?

[dementedd12]

@TheGzeus Programming is an art. I take it you've never programmed before?

[selfeducationguide]

Douglas Rushkoff is a brilliant man. Too bad our politicians aren't so brilliant.

[lotusfeetable]

Woah...What is this guy smoking?

[mx4px]

For Peter Coffin ...regarding programming being an art vs. it being a craft. What is writing? Art or craft? Does your answer change if we're talking about writing a novel vs. writing a manual? How about drawing? Schematic or museum piece? How about something a little harder to judge: music? Underscore for a commercial or love song for your girlfriend? Art or craft? Each of these can be both. Same goes for software. Write for money, write for love. The best is art AND craft.

[Starrdusk2]

@mx4px I would describe all of the things you mentioned being both then; writing, the Craft is what one does to produce the Art that comes from that Craft.

the process is the Craft, the outcome is the Art....

hadn't thought of it interms of manuals, but that would go across the board, possibly in many instances continuing with the old saying that it (art, beauty) is in the eye of the beholder.

[BubbaLouis]

Part II about this idiot

The Chinese language had 5,000 characters. The Hebrews were running around the desert of Israel on donkeys living in mud huts while China was inventing steel and foundries and furnaces, and building architecturally innovative pagodas. Get this: China had drydocks for ship-building 100 years before the Torah came out.

[hamiltino]

@BubbaLouis the exact recount of history is irrelevant, the concept presented is what you should be analyzing and criticizing . I see his idea in which people can become subjected into the ideas and concepts of others, It is important for us to not be mere characters in ones novel, but rather the writers of our own will.

[BubbaLouis]

Part I

This guy is an idiot. His knowledge of history is false. The fact that he makes it Israel-centric with its 22 characters is bizarre. China's civilization was already in place (Sun Tzu had already written The Art of War [550 BC] 200 years before the Torah showed up in written format [circa 300 BC]). Confucianism existed for 200 years before the Torah.

[PalmyBruce]

Yes, he's so right, excellent. Now do a search for 'itocracy' and see where we're *going*. In short, the recent arrival of the social networked internet and communications has put is n a new era of fundamental global democratic community. It's so breathtakingly good, as you'll see in the vid, that it is actually quite likely to put an end not only to now out-of-date TV, but to end war. Have a look at the video and tell your friends. Comment on it pro/con if you like. Some good news for a change.

[researchsiempre]

it's all propaganda, folks.

[isthattrue212]

Huh?

[pva3788]

non-sense. "programming reality". this dude is confused

[mahamayamaliga]

Try latin women **busizz4me.info**

[alwayson09]

Not to mention the $100G+ salary with a B.S. or B.A.! The Mercedes doesn't hurt either, but it's not really about those things now is it? They are just secondary perks.

[davea0511]

He's talking about 2 things:

Starting off he's saying we don't understand the programs (religion, politics, gov't structures) upon which our society exists. Then lets understand them!

With regard to the coder's role being similar to a great author or leader I must disagree. Unlike great literature, or a moving oration, it's disposable, infinitely replaceable, & nothing more than a workable blueprint. Unlike a book, or speech, code is useless without all of us. *WE* program the programmer.

[Wulfereene]

Wow rise of the programmers. Once outsiders, nerds, geeks, a minority sometimes laughed at. Some of them crafted Google and Facebook. Now there even is a movie about Facebook. I am glad that I am a programmer. It has socially never been a good thing until now.

[CityzenJane]

@Wulfereene Well - that's if you assume that this programming class has actually 'done the work' as psychologists like to say - of really handling, understanding and moving through all that painful rejection. If they have not - then power is not at all a good thing for them to wield. Then again Star Trek and Star Wars handle these themes fairly well ;D

"I am your father Luke"

[EpicPremonition]

@Wulfereene sorry mate, Facebook was a government funded project run by FRONT CIA firms........the shit you see in Hollywood is fake as is almost EVERYTHING in Hollywood....fun fact the term hollywood came from the HOLLY TREE, they would take wood from holly trees and make them into wands for occult magic.....

[Wulfereene]

@EpicPremonition Might be right, I don't know. But I refer to the programmers image in the society (read: girls :D). An there, the truth does not matter, but just what most do believe. As far as people think, programmers are something special, I am fine with that. Naturally, that does not make the illusion itself good. Independently, programmers are nice people and have been looked down upon for some time now. I like when that changes. I might not like the reasons.

[Tazzyyaz]

I need to learn to program... I don't wanna be programmed...

I thought there were 26 letters in the alphabet, not 22...

[toverflow]

@Tazzyyaz The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters...

BTW good luck learning to program!

[AliaK77]

@Tazzyyaz 22 letters in Hebrew alphabet (it was around before English script)

[toverflow]

Very interesting pov. Made me smile and wonder: "Why o why didn't I take the blue pill?"

[hatcakefloss]

this guy looks like he's on coke.

[CityzenJane]

@hatcakefloss yeah - it sometimes appears that way when someone thinks.

[Tripper747]

I'd say we should also be looking at questions of binary intelligibility (radically exclusive inside/outside; self/other, yes/no) in subjectivity which occurs prior to program codes in technology.

And we should be looking more at that stuff outside the usual context of oppression / elitism.

[BeatleUniversity]

This is a very interesting talk. I like this guy!

[Bastiat00]

Interesting. Program or be Programmed.. I wonder if he considers himself programmed in the English language?

[CityzenJane]

@Bastiat00 I imagine he understands your point!

[670Kiester]

Douglas Rushkoff is on twitter btw, 'rushkoff'

[Professoranton]

Go Doug. Great to see it here.

[infinitemanifest]

Interesting points, but it seems to be coming a little bit from ego. I don't feel technology has bias, I beleive it is neutral. Also, self-realization does not require programming knowledge. Awareness is key, but technology is not the master of our own consciousness if we don't allow it.

[bigears999]

@infinitemanifest I believe technology is bias as it still has a human element, it is made by humans for humans and humans have been and always will be bias. Self-realisation through awareness is key however, programming is the new way of expressing ones self. Of course we as humans can choose not to express in this manner but, and I think this is one of Douglas's point, people choose to ignore or are afraid of using new methods of self expression. I think it's sad.

[CityzenJane]

@infinitemanifest I think he means particular implementations have the bias of their creators. I for instance hate the phone - systems I create simply may not be integrated with telephony as it's a technology I find distasteful....

[metedude2]

awesome video!

thanks for posting this

PEACE AND LOVE from canada

[skibeijing]

Thank you for posting this video. Though I disagree with the main point...It seems to me that programmers are also among the programmed (why? because they use programs they did not create - like flickr, tumblr, facebook, youtube, etc).

[Shoord]

Of course, the 22 letter alphabet... -.-

Proper keynote though!

[argotechnica]

He's talking about the Hebrew alphabet. ^_^

[MartinusThomsen]

check

w w w. martinus . nu

w w w. oletherkelsen . dk (lectures in English)

w w w. unitopia. eu

w w w. mathildenhoehe . org

....."for humane materialists"

[Pr0ducin9]

I have read some of Martinus`s work. When i was younger (in my teenage years) i used to take Martinus seriously. As i have grown older i have come to realize that he is just another guy with a theory in cosmology that is way out there and has no touch with reality.

My advice would be... stop reading his work as it only will make you confused and start studying some real science.

Search for Lawrence krauss 'A Universe From Nothing'. Cosmolgy is interesting if based on science and not speculation

[MartinusThomsen]

@Pr0ducin9- Well, check also w w w. walter-russell . org , w w w. philosophy . org , and my site, w w w. mathildenhoehe . org.

According TESLA; Russell was 1000 years beyond his time. These people had real GENIUS, and no pseudo-academic shallow nonsense as sole "arguments".

What a shallow boredom, compared to "my pantheistic favorites". Just my view.

[kikobiko]

what a load of BS

[detcader]

Anyone else think "the used" after he said "the users" and then was surprised that he went and said it?

[Domotashiheriosan]

Saw this first off site and wanted to learn more. Then found that You Tube changed the lay out of their pages. The topic became clear right in front of my eyes. I laughed then cried. Cause I don't know Java. Ha

[PhaceKard]

Lols. 2:34

"The 22 letter alphabet."

Win.

[111oose]

@PhaceKard

lrn2hbrw

[PhaceKard]

@111oose ya, i realize what he meant now. but i wasnt sure before

[frvfilms]

the matrix

[MultiMiracleMan]

I admire this man just for thinking outside the box for a while...

[petercoffin]

I think he made a lot of really good points, but I also feel like he's - in essence - saying the person who makes the paintbrush controls the painter, which I believe could not be further from the truth.

Every artist has a medium, and programming is just that: an art. It's an amazing, astounding craft - just like woodworking or architecture.

Just like the people who design the saws and compasses. But is it them that determines what the dresser or the building looks like?

[TheGzeus]

@petercoffin Programming's not an art. but is a craft.

The programmer's tool is the programming language, not the computer. You can program without a computer, it's just not going to be executed. You can draw in the dirt, but it's not going to stick around.

The computer is the user of what is crafted.

The thing is, the computer then lets the craftsman use the result of it's work, and so on in a positive feedback loop.

I've met people who thought it was amazing that I can change my oil.

It's odd.

[testlauch]

@TheGzeus

1. you can program without a computer and it will be executed, unless u call business or society and everything else a computer.

2. the computer is not exactly the user, but the executor.

3. programming is an art, but u need the craft to do it... same goes for every other kind of art... some skills are needed to express urself

[TheGzeus]

@testlauch 1. Try that again. Didn't understand that at all. Why are you talking about business and society? How is code executed without a computer?

2. I was working with the previous analogy.

3. Code has to _do_ something. Thus, while art can be involved, you're making something useful, so a craft.

Art exists for its own sake and/or to communicate emotionally/abstractly.

Crafts produce usable items. Art can be incorporated into a craft(and vice versa), but they're distinct concepts

[testlauch]

@TheGzeus

3. yeah maybe coding is a craft but also a kind of art. it depends what u do with it.

...while a stonemason could create a nice tombstone he could also create something u might call art.... i think a programer could do the same. u can program something useful but the same time u could also program something like those 64k demos

1. a computer run's code , a business runs strategies/plans/business processes on the companys architecture (buildings, machines, employees, etc...)

[kurydebarcelona]

@TheGzeus not to mention people amaized at me growing my own tomatoes...

[TheFaustianMan]

Hey you mean this isn't TED!? But I Thought they had ALL the best and the brightest!?[Sarcasm]

Who want's to hear a talk at TED, when they can hear this guy at SXSW?

Interesting talk and I understand what he is clamoring for but not everyone is a fully realized individual. Most people just want to watch or be in American Idol.

Good guy though. Thanks BB for posting him.

[zezt]

@TheFaustianMan or they are MADE to think like that. Ie., they are programmed by the progandists

[OniLunchbox]

Programming is dicks.

[odiousone]

@OniLunchbox haha what? awesome.

[OniLunchbox]

Prove me wrong.

[bobjenz]

this is a very insightful speech. Great job.

[Soapface]

"Programs programs programs programs"

[MetaGrrrl]

This was a great session. These are a very good set of snippets from the whole hour of excellence, but there's more. Watch for the audio to come up for this one; it was one of my favorite sessions this time.

[huhreally]

THIS IS WHY I NEED TO BE AT SXSW!

[SequoyahDC]

This is a great seminar!!!!! I am sad I missed it. LISTEN UP WORLD!!!!!!