Photo by Matthew Guay on Unsplash
Just the other day I was coding a bit when I realized the number of repetitions I had to make. The sheer number of times I had to be cognizant of syntax. Yes an IDE can make it easier. But it tends to rob the joy of tackling problems. Coding isn’t difficult, I said to myself, but it sure as fuck is monotonous.
This soon lead to me unleashing this tweetstorm a while ago
You can click or tap on the tweet for more on the issue. But ultimately I realized a lot of the things I was doing, entering syntax, looking up for solutions to problems could all be done in a much easier way.
Why do we teach people to learn javascript(a programming language) fundamentals, when the fastest way of learning javascript meaningfully is doing projects with a framework?
Heck, why code in the first place if we have or could have tools that made it so much easier to develop full-featured apps instantaneously?
Why write in the first place when we could speak or narrate our thoughts into existence?
Heck, why try to teach kids to solve math by hand instead of teaching them the concepts and using computational tools to highlight these concepts?
Why do we still use these archaic symbols used by long-dead people to describe the world?
We’ve accumulated a shit ton of knowledge over humankind’s existence on earth, and yet, we refuse to make it any less complex.
In short, why do we not make an effort to simplify it all?
I remember reading a bit about Stephen Wolfram— the man— behind Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha. I remember reading how much he hated doing maths by hand, mainly because of how tiresome and truly difficult these computations were in the first place. As a result of this, he sought methods to simplify things. He learned to use computers and devised means with which he could simplify the one task he felt was hard.
This pursuit of methods that weren’t as complex has brought us powerful tools. The goal of innovation should be to make things easier, and yet it’s almost like we try to keep things complicated.
In many ways, we’ve gotten so used to the conventional nature of things. We’ve gotten used to needless complexity.
As a result of it all, I asked myself this. Why are things— that could be made simpler— so much more complicated. I came to the conclusion that there was one simple answer.
We chose it to be that way.
Many of us see hard things and learn hard things and as a result, feel as if they should be that way. This sort of passivity towards complex things has made it such that we will never truly understand the world as much as we would like to.
I wonder if this need to keep things complex is why we see stagnation. Why we haven’t seen as many scientific breakthroughs in physics. This need and desire to merely keep things as they were and not seek some redefinition is to our detriment.
When Einstein came out with his theory of relativity, the opposition to it was remarkable. This wasn’t because it wasn’t right, it’s fundamentally because people in more elite, technical positions prefer the overly complicated even if it means they do not understand the world more.
We see politicians choose complicated means-tested benefit programs, that fail to hit their mark.
We see opposition towards new physics frameworks that although perhaps could be wrong, might very well be right.
We see bureaucracies fail to adapt because as they grow they become more complex to understand by those who inhabit it themselves!
I say fuck it all!
SIMPLIFY THE WORLD!
The moment we admit to ourselves that some things are indeed difficult, we start innovating. We start seeking new ways towards which to solve them. By making the world easier to explain, we, in turn, create tools for progress.
My writings have thus far lead me down this path; a path that not only seeks to understand the world we currently live in but provides content that could help people understand the world as well. I will be focusing far more on this goal: to shrink the vast knowledge of the world and making it accessible in some form or another.