I Love the Computer

In a recent discussion on the Aftermath Podcast about the ill effects of the current AI hype cycle, one of the editors said something that really resonated with me: I love the computer. — Chris Person This was in the middle of a rant about how these snake oil salesmen are ruining the space he loves with their insatiable avarice and, as much as I’d like to add my voice to the chorus of technologists who are legitimately angry at this social crime being committed, I’m going focus on that specific quote. Because I, too, love the computer. In The Beginning It all began with a curious box that my mother brought home from work. Sometime when I was around six or seven we were living in Dølihagen, a suburban area near Jessheim, itself a small town in Norway. The area was less populous then than it is now, having ballooned in size since they opened the new international airport nearby, and my memories of it are a sparse mix of playgrounds, muddy fields, and a sea of homogenous buildings. We…