Which one do you prefer, programing or being programmed?

Program or Be Programmed

Ten Commands For A Digital Age

Douglas Rushkoff       

I prefer this book to Where Good Ideas Come From, maybe because I am a person with a background in Programing. However, Douglas Rushkoff’s book not only talks about the programming world, but also discusses the digital world nowadays. That is to say, this book is not only against readers who know programming, but also against all the people who live in the technical world.

I believe that all the people who have already read this book must be impressed by “Programming is the sweet point, the high leverage point in a digital society. If we don’t learn to program, we risk being programed ourselves.”

This book is also known as Ten Commands For A Digital Age. The ten commands are Time: Do Not Be Always On; Place: Live in Person; Choice: You May Always Choose None of the Above; Complexity: You Are Never Completely Right; Scale: One Size Does Not Fit All; Identity: Be yourself; Social: Do Not Sell Your Friends; Fact: Tell the Truth; Openness: Share, Don’t Steal; and Purpose: Program or Be Programmed.

In fact, these ten commands look more like a rule of living for people in the digital world, especially for us media people. The last two commands attracted me most, and I think they are more important in media area.

One is about the openness, which means share, don’t steal. I think this part told us how to operate our business in a good position in the real world. Also, it is another way to introduce “Good Ideas”. The world now is an open world, just as the Android System, which is an open source system. Programmers can develop anything they like based on the Android frame. However, the only way for programmers to earn profits is to develop their own creative work, not copy or imitate. It is what Douglas Rushkoff said “Share, Don’t Steal.” Programmers can get inspirations from others’ work, but if programmers steal others’ work, they cannot succeed, even be punished.

The last part is the main part of the whole book, “Program, or Be Programmed.” From this part, I have a feeling that if people know nothing about programming in the digital world, they look like robots, and they will be controlled by technology. Besides, these people will lose a lot of opportunities in the competition. However, Rushkoff’s purpose is not let all the people become programmer, but make more people know what happened around them. For example, most people use computer everyday, but how many of them know how to build up a system? How many of them know the hardware of their computers? Even how many of them know what program language is?

This book happened to make me think about some field trips in this semester. One is EMUSIC, another is Women You Should Know. The similar point is that they both talked much about the connection between technology and media. The engineer of EMUSIC stressed that be a person knows program and design, you can do whatever you like. Meanwhile, Jennifer Jones and Cynthia Hornig, the cofounders of Women You Should Know also said that because they didn’t know computer during their growing up, they became harder to run their own company. It obvious that in the digital world, knowing technology is important in a career.

We media people have to catch up with the development of the technology because the media area is developing towards digital media. Maybe before, to a media person, a creative idea, a critic mind and a pen are enough. However, nowadays, a media person cannot find a job if he or she cannot use a computer. That is our technology, our world.

Which one do you prefer, programing or being programmed?