Why am I Interested in Programming?

I have really thought about this, and one answer is obvious - because the Computer is now running the world, and Programmers are running the Computer. Or at least some Programmers are - many of them are clueless, don't know what is going on - and don't want to know.

But a more comprehensive answer, would have to include the last major event in the World - the Industrial Revolution. That for much of the World, changed everything. Plenty has been written about this - except for its impact on the people of the time. They had been hit by a powerful new force that changed them completely.

And, in fact - had eliminated them completely - or almost completely. It had introduced a series of wars, that destroyed people, and machines - on an Industrial scale.

The lesson people learned from this was - It was more important than they were. They had no idea what It was - but they knew it was there, and they had to obey it.

People understand Power very well - they can detect it instinctively - and obey it instinctively. And they can use it, on a large scale - to form empires. And after WWII, there was an American Empire, the most powerful ever.

But something else happened, and I was part of it - Electronics. Back then, if your car radio stopped working - you removed the vacuum tubes in it, took them a drug store - and tested the tubes in their tube tester. If a tube was bad, you bought a new one from their stock - for a reasonable price.

Electronic devices had become a drug - that everyone had to have. And I was an Electronic Engineer, who knew all about vacuum tubes - and was well-paid for my expertise.

The most important device became Television - that people could not resist! It taught them how to run their lives - what to buy, and how to use what they bought.

In the background, unnoticed by everyone - the Computer was taking shape! When transistors were invented - it took off. An ordinary Phone now, has more computing power than huge computers, costing millions of dollars, in the Fifties.

Once again, people have been hit by a force they did not understand. But they knew, very well - that it was clever - and it represented a new power. And they were eager to serve it.

This is the situation we have now - a new technology understood by only a few - and I want to be one of those few.