79 lines
4.3 KiB
Text
79 lines
4.3 KiB
Text
%% title = "design for the free soul"
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWD4JF34E64W1GK583J"
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- as I'm writing this, I'm sitting in the passenger seat of a car, with my girlfriend driving us home.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDSDQT385C53C1NBTS"
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- we pass a Toyota C-HR on the highway, and I get my first good look at that car.
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so far I've only seen it in passing _and_ while I was driving, so I couldn't really take a good look at its design.
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but this is the first time I'm seeing the car from all angles.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDWR5A66J4JD4WV1J1"
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- a thought surfaces in my head... "_this car is built like a frickin' Evangelion._"
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDPANQNMJ749RSN0YE"
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- armoured to shield you from the elements, protect you from crashes, and provide a comfortable driving experience.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDGQ9KM1S3ZP4R06HQ"
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- I've never taken a good look at the C-HR other than its weird looking back.
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but when you see the whole car like that, you can start to see the appeal.
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it just looks like a really frickin' rugged solid car.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDHWG7J8B11NMH6JGC"
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- but the rugged solid design makes me think... _you must really feel boxed in when you're inside it, no?_
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDEK4D6Q9N0J2B5VCZ"
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- this prompted me to think about designs evoking the feeling of being _boxed in_ or otherwise _claustrophobic_.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDQATZV0PX8BQX68BB"
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- I'm not sure what a _car for the free soul_ would look like.
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would it be a small and nimble car?
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an aerodynamic one?
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perhaps it wouldn't be a car, but a motorcycle?
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDGGGT21Q51KYYE4PX"
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- perhaps... a _bicycle_ could be called the vehicle for the free soul?
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there's no roof to box you in, no engine noise to drive you nuts...
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just you and the elements.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWD5P8J45KZE1JKA190"
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- being able to experience the zen of nature, the world as it is...
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the warmth of a late summer evening, the cold of an early winter morning.
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the soft breeze, or the whizzing wind, the calm showers, or the roaring thunderstorm.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDD7R80WG7VMQ6HBQS"
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- humans build constructions to protect themselves from the elements, but maybe that takes away a degree of freedom?
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a degree of freedom... of the soul?
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDP6VDZJ5Y5RVF13AH"
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- I wonder how this concept of _freedom of the soul_ can be expressed in software design.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDPF2F14X924F6NZ5S"
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- one example immediately comes to mind; that of the _infinite canvas_.
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can you possibly feel more free than on an infinite canvas?
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWD893PNJ71T0PJK3SA"
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- and in a similar vein, you could think of infinite open worlds in video games.
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like in Minecraft.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDG1HMW5XES08XJGK4"
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- but ultimately, we add constrains to our software to make it more predictable and useful.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWD1HW73WEGC2GXYRJV"
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- a text editor has the constraint of not allowing negative `(row, column)` coordinates, because the top-left is a useful anchor to start writing text from.
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you can start writing text from a single point, and it will not expand upwards or leftwards; only downwards and rightwards, the latter most often being bounded even further by word wrapping.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDZ7125PX1VGNMQEWG"
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- this is of course a property of Latin-based writing systems in general; our text editors just implement those constraints.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDQBX0HSGFBF0CAV18"
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- programming languages impose constraints on the developer to make it easier for rigid computer algorithms to check the correctness of arbitrary code.
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there's little assumptions you can make about arbitrary machine code, but there are a lot of rules a Rust program must follow to be valid.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDV75VVKNHWTRBWJ5Q"
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- which makes me think, languages can give your soul more or less freedom of expression, depending on their design.
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C is a language with very few constraints, giving you lots of freedom to express yourself, at the risk of shit breaking down horribly if you make a mistake.
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% id = "01JG6Y2YWDVX7YHES9A5ACX13A"
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- maybe next time I'll be designing something, I'll take the idea of freedom of the soul into mind.
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