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femolacaster
femolacaster

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A LIFE WITHOUT CODE

For many here, we probably spend most of our productive time staring at the computer screen coding away. Some young, some old, but the thirst for knowledge and creation never ends.

Now, suppose something unnatural was to happen that stopped the world from having to write code, how do you think it would go for you?

Would you just join a focus group where you talk about the good old coding times and try to come to terms with the new life? Would it not mean anything to you as you have substitute leisure, family, or other endeavors that you can have more time for?

Do you think you would go broke in some time and how relevant would you be in Other Industries? How sad, pleasant or depressing would it be? Would you still keep some of the relationships that were established majorly because of coding? How useful would your laptop and other gadgets still be to you?

Let’s discuss, a life without coding…

Top comments (2)

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thormeier profile image
Pascal Thormeier

How sad, pleasant or depressing would it be?

Yes.

That "unnatural event" that will make coding obsolete, will most likely either cause total carnage upon humankind or lead us to the age of Star Trek. While I do love the idea of living in the Star Trek universe, where all the machines just work™ (including the replicators, holy smokes!) and you can get a broken FTL drive working again in minutes ("Scotty, can you fix the FTL?" - "That'll take me two weeks, captain!" - "You've got two hours!" - "Ok, I'll get it done in five minutes!"), I, sadly, do consider the "total carnage" scenario a tad more likely.

I was lately thinking about that, too, actually. People who code usually have two major skills: Problem solving and a flair for mathematics. I doubt that either one of these will ever become obsolete. Coming from an agile work environment, being able to adapt to change is also common among software devs.

Let's explore the "total carnage" scenario for a bit. Coding isn't necessary anymore. That means, that nobody needs software anymore. That can have two reasons: a) Nobody's around anymore, or b) no computers, internet or electrical devices that could be programmed are around anymore. For the sake of the argument, let's roll with b). Perhaps civilazation has degraded to a Mad Max or Fallout kinda state. That wouldn't stop us from gathering up old devices, salvaging the copper and still functioning parts and trying to build basic circuits again. After all, books would probably still be a thing and the knowledge would be there, right? At some point, devs will have created a programmable device to finally pursue their passion again, among sand dunes and wasted cities, with nobody left to review their code, never knowing if they should go with a switch/case or a bunch of if/else.

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femolacaster profile image
femolacaster

Beautiful perspective. I need to see all of these movies again anyway. I didn't watch them with any of these ideas or emotions.