On Thinking, Software, and Ideas

[image:1617C561-A611-4B6E-9E2E-8E5136D43BEF-429-0000010E2D063404/89DD28C6-E3DB-400A-8EC7-1A3957FA0872.png]

I'm approaching 40, and in that process of reviewing milestones of my life, I've been reflecting on my career and my life and my contributions and wondering what comes of it.

One big idea that dominates the other thoughts is the thought of how we learn, how we craft thoughts and ideas into physical things that we bring into the world. I consider myself a maker first and a thinker second, but how I think influences what I make, and so I've been forced to think more deeply about the things that I make. What ideas influence me? Is my thinking clear? How am I shaping the world and why? What ideas can I in turn shape that will actually mold what makers make for many years from now?

I've been at the software game, professionally, for about 18 years. As I move into the second half of my career, I'm thinking about what I should focus on. And increasingly I'm thinking about big ideas that span the fields of software development, human potential, futurism, and tool-building.

Technology is merely a tool.

In a word, the computer scientist is a toolsmith—no more, but no less. It is an honorable calling.

[image:073C863D-E7A5-4C97-9EC8-B104EF3862A1-429-0000032E306EAC7E/2B41C771-DFDF-455E-9B9C-582EE30317D1.png]

That swordsmith is successful whose clients die of old age.

Thinking Thoughts That Bend The Arc of the Universe

What are the big thoughts in my mind?

• Integrate the analog and the digital
• We need more screens and information radiators in our physical spaces
• Knowledge Management Systems
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Publishing
  • Bookmarking
  • Personal systems for managing knowledge