"Most of the tasks we do are for humans. For example, a tax calculation is counting numbers so the government can pull money out from my wallet, but government consists of humans"
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Matsumoto is smuggling a worldview into a throwaway example about taxes: computing is never just math, its an arrangement of people. By choosing a tax calculation - the kind of task programmers love to describe as "neutral" number-crunching - he yanks the curtain back. The output is not truth; its a claim on your wallet, enforced by institutions. And institutions, he reminds us with almost deadpan insistence, are made of humans.
That last clause reads simple, even obvious, which is exactly why it lands. Engineers often talk as if "the system" has agency and inevitability. Matsumoto punctures that passive voice. Governments do not "take"; people design tax codes, approve budgets, decide enforcement, and then delegate the messy arithmetic to software. The subtext is a critique of technocratic innocence: if your program helps extract money, ration benefits, rank citizens, or deny claims, you are not building a pure algorithm. You are participating in governance.
As a scientist and language designer, Matsumoto is also defending a human-centered ethos in programming. Ruby's reputation for programmer happiness isnt just about syntax sugar; its a stance against treating code as an end in itself. The point of most software is mediation between humans with competing needs and power. Even the boring tasks are political when the "counting numbers" decides who pays, who gets audited, and who gets to sleep at night.
That last clause reads simple, even obvious, which is exactly why it lands. Engineers often talk as if "the system" has agency and inevitability. Matsumoto punctures that passive voice. Governments do not "take"; people design tax codes, approve budgets, decide enforcement, and then delegate the messy arithmetic to software. The subtext is a critique of technocratic innocence: if your program helps extract money, ration benefits, rank citizens, or deny claims, you are not building a pure algorithm. You are participating in governance.
As a scientist and language designer, Matsumoto is also defending a human-centered ethos in programming. Ruby's reputation for programmer happiness isnt just about syntax sugar; its a stance against treating code as an end in itself. The point of most software is mediation between humans with competing needs and power. Even the boring tasks are political when the "counting numbers" decides who pays, who gets audited, and who gets to sleep at night.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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