Sanity and Insanity

This is one of the things that make us human. And one of those things, that in our time - we do not want to talk about. Because we have become more sane and more insane. And it has become more difficult to tell the difference.

The keyword in what I have just written is - more. We have so much of everything, it is driving us crazy.

This, in itself, should not be a problem - I have little difficulty in admitting that I have a hard time understanding what is going on - and anyone who knows me can see that also. Everyone can see that I am cognitively handicapped - to use a neat phrase I just picked up.

The problem for most people, is that they do not want to admit how handicapped they are. They have become what Nietzsche called the Ubermensch - or, in English, the Supermen. Or, to use Christian terminology - Saints in Heaven. A crazy idea, if ever there was on - but one, billions of people have believed in, and still believe in.

This idea, of perfection in our time - has undergone a radical redefinition in the practice of Software Development. These guys and gals, have discovered Eternity - as it was defined mathematically,  a few hundred years ago. And they have added to that treasure trove, by developing Algorithms, that greatly increase our ability to manipulate the World around us.

And also made themselves rich - a side effect, they had not planned on, but one they don't mind accepting. They have rediscovered that Virtue has its own rewards - and makes its own demands. If you are a good developer - you help other developers, and the better your gifts to them, the better you are - as a developer.

This is a new way of life, that most people cannot comprehend. But would have been familiar to Romans, in the Roman Republic - but not Romans in the Roman Empire, that was a different matter entirely.