Chatting With Mom

Mom and I had an interesting conversation this morning. She was joking about her disabilities and I was exulting how sharp she was, and credited the military-industrial complex for keeping her sane. She fights it all day, tells it to disarm. Keeps her in shape.

Meanwhile, down the hall, I'm like this pro DARPA person, because when Guido was a nobody, and brilliant (now he's a somebody, still brilliant), his bold Computer Programming for Everybody manifesto attracted DoD attention. What a boon to democracy it would be, to have Americans at least (more if willing) computer literate.

Here's an article from Salon about what happened instead: teachers actually dropped all mention of programming for the most part, and now maybe think they'll get away with blaming the PC engineers.

Sorry to disappoint, but the freedom to download and run free languages has never been greater. If your curriculum is in trouble, don't come whining to the engineers about it. They've met you more than half way. Think of some other excuse?

That being said, we have a long way to go with improving the technology. That's why we recruit so avidly, hoping to bolster the civilian sector with high caliber talent. We need next generations to help us make life better. We're not done yet, not even close.

But where will this talent come from, if we ignore golden opportunities to educate when it matters, before they've become hardened-in-their-ways adults, possibly all Eloi, hardly a Morlock among them. That'd be bad for our time, and we don't need any "time machine" to tell us that.

So anyway, Mom and I basically agreed we're working at opposite ends of the same spectrum. I deal with dark sider tooth/fang stuff all day, while she gets to work with wise women (I'm not saying which is easier). She's glad my campaigns are going well, both HP4E and 4D.