The Experts, Pt. 2

I had intended to send my second thought bubble on experts floating out through the netsphere yesterday, but there were many interruptions. Of course, in the interest of honesty, I wasn't entirely sure what that second bubble was about. My overall point is fairly simple, so I'll try to state that here for clarity: expertise is very valuable, but it tends to stifle creative approaches without sufficient feedback from external sources, including novices. Well, that was easy. I would be surprised to find any substantial disagreement with that point of view.

I suspect what's behind the clash of thinking processes is often some basic difference between the value systems of the individuals involved. For a programmer developing a large application, the value system can become skewed in esoteric directions that have little to do with usability, while a user can quite intimidate a developer with his or her wide-ranging knowledge of that application, based on a value system of practical, and even creative, interaction with the software in daily life. Fortunately, the programmer is highly motivated to provide products with features that directly respond to the value systems of the users, and a collaborative effort is made to achieve that goal. This has worked out very well, for the most part, in the world of software.

Much of today's world might be viewed in terms of similar conflicting value systems, and much of what seems broken might be symbolized by the dysfunctional cooperation between those whose value systems do not coincide. This way of looking at the problem could be extended in so many different directions it's hard to know where to begin, but there are three I want to mention initially here, and return to from time to time in future posts. They are:

• American foreign policy and the average American's view of that policy
• Corporate policies and the average American's view of their policies
• Religious doctrine and, again, the average American's view of that doctrine

In each of the three areas above, there is a schism between the posture of a given entity, and the American people themselves. In each case, something of the collaborative process appears to be fundamentally ineffectual. Why should this be? What would short-circuit such a basic process that enjoys such success in environments like that between a software company and its users? With regard to software, a primary motivation for maintaining the balance is competition. If one company's developers don't listen to the users, another company's developers will. Some might refer to that as a "free market", but there can frequently be a dearth of real competition in a free market. In my personal experience, the best software has always been as a result of spirited competition for users between rival applications. Where there are problems related to the list above, it is often a lack of competition that contributes greatly to those problems.

I'm rummaging through all these concepts to try and build some framework for the perspectives I've gained by the reading and study I've been undertaking to try and understand what's behind the unholy mess everyone seems to be making of our lovely little earth. Even a moderately sane human being could only describe the major forces at work in the world today as perverse, or perhaps even the height of madness. I want to find some handy, accessible frames of reference because I've found there is method to be discovered beneath the chaos, and that's the most troubling aspect of all. It's one thing to feel that we're careening out of control. It's quite another to feel controlled. But there it is.

I have finished Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival, and am nearly halfway through Howard Zinn's A Power Governments Cannot Suppress. These are books which stand against some elements the authors see as highly intentional, not some muddied result of poor planning, but from the perspective of average folks like you and I, an opposing force. I can't compel you to read these books, but now that I have, I need to find ways to integrate the perspective I've gained into this blog in a meaningful way that relates to shared knowledge. I don't expect I'll be able to accomplish that overnight, but I believe such an effort can be useful.

A lot of it is about respect. I developed a deep respect for the experts at Microsoft, and an equal respect for the armies of users. I encountered an application, then known as Outlook Express, and now, Windows Mail, from the perspective of bits and bytes, and hundreds of thousands of lines of code that, after some natural recoil from what seemed an enormous task, taught me to respect the subtle, intricate structure of the creation as it existed before my intrusion into its arcane world. After much study, what had seemed like random flights of fancy revealed beauties of design all the more satisfying because those secrets were only revealed when I had applied myself with sufficient effort to make myself ready to receive them. At Microsoft, software can have mystical overtones!

I have learned a little about respect, and the rewards that can be gained when sufficient respect is paid to the object of interest. The Zen of everyday life might be described as learning to have genuine respect with regard to all we encounter. So I do feel motivated to treat these questions with sufficient respect. As an indication of that, I will respect what seems like a good place to stop for the moment. If I've given the reader anything to consider further here, I will be pleased; but this is also for my benefit. Some parts of them will continue to rattle around in my head for the next day or two, until I know it's time to let some more of them spill out on my keyboard.

The Experts, Pt. 1

In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

-- Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

I have used that quote before, only about a month ago, and I'm sure I will use it again. It's one of my favorites. We have a lot of experts around. I've known some of them. It's a major achievement when a person gains a reputation of genuine expertise in his or her chosen field.

When I reflect on my past, I can boast of having gained sufficient respect for my own expertise that I was allowed into the inner circles of development efforts that resulted in the latest edition of the operating system known as Windows Vista® (and Windows Live®, too, by the way). I have written many thousands of lines of code as my part of that effort, and if we discard false showings of either humility or pride, I can be considered an expert repository of knowledge that's of no small importance to our world.

I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had in the past, and perhaps will again in the future, to acquire and build on that reputation in the interest of stretching the boundaries of the digital aspects of our lives. The sales figures of Windows Vista® attest, hopefully, to real acceptance of our efforts, and the promise of Vista® for its advancements and support for new and exciting possibilities of working with information and communicating it to others. It all could have been done without me, of course, but it couldn't have happened without The Experts.

At Microsoft, there is a very healthy respect for expertise. The amazing people who can navigate comfortably through the labyrinthian core of Windows source code with deep understanding and respect for the intentions and far-reaching impact of seemingly obscure subroutines and branches have my deepest respect. They are the foundation, and theirs are the shoulders whereon we stand as we explore those possibilities they've helped to enable. And I've been often amused when the experts are pulled up short by a novice whose question the experts might choose to reject.

Innovation at Microsoft has always been a collaborative effort between the experts and the novices. It's an ideal laboratory for examining the compartmentalization of thinking, and the frequently encountered "inside-the-box" limitations of standardized thinking. Fortunately for Microsoft developers, we have frequently been forced to come to grips with those limitations, and to reach out in innovative directions that challenge our mental routines. That's an experience not to be minimized, and I bring that element of my background to this effort with unchecked enthusiasm.

This is part 1 of my rant on The Experts. I have much more on this topic bouncing around in my head, but it's almost time for the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes to play Penn State (can you tell I was born and raised in Ohio?), so I'll stop for now. I'll pick this up again within the next posting or two.

I want to leave a link to a short blog I posted today on my.barack.obama. I've already stated my support for his campaign, and that I maintain a small, more "politically-correct" blog there on his web site. The theme of that post is very relevant to this topic, so if you'd like to read that as well, here it is: When Will We Learn?

Happy Birthday To Me!

It's my birthday today! I am now officially an old fart. I have lived sixty years now on this earth, and there's been a whole lot to see. There's been a lot to like, and, well, there's been a lot that's hard to like. Today is a milestone, however, and milestones should be celebrated. I intend to make some additions to this blog at various times today in a pretty random manner, and I plan to leverage my newfound status as elder statesman by indulging myself shamelessly at every opportunity. Forewarned is forearmed!

I'm intending to publish twice today; once now, and again late tonight with the "finished" product. I can't wait to see how this turns out!

I've been experimenting a bit today with the new blogging facilities in Word 2007, but there are a lot of things to work out in that area. I'm a C++ dev, folks. I've written a lot of HTML, but that's never been my focus, so I can get just as confused in this area as anybody else. It about drove me crazy just trying to put a nice label beneath the picture you see on the right. It's my birthday, so I'm not gonna fight this stuff today. The picture is an artist's conception of the Imagine Peace Tower on Videy Island in Reykjavik, Iceland, as dedicated by Yoko Ono to John Lennon. You can find out more about it at ImaginePeace.com.

I'll be back later today to publish the final version of today's blog. Don't look for me to work out all the kinks in Word 2007/Blogger synchronization today, but I'll be digging into these issues over the next few weeks.

So much nasty stuff going on today. Explosions in Pakistan as Bhutto attemts to return, the S-CHIP veto was upheld, we're all trying to figure out why President Bush is talking about World War III, and so on. I haven't meditated yet today. While a howling windstorm starts to blow up outside, I'll try to flush out my brain a little bit, and make a fresh start later.

I've just discovered cartoonist John Sherffius, whose sense of irony appeals to me. I've attempted to contact Mr. Sherffius to request permission to display this cartoon, but the MSNBC contact information appears to be outdated. The cartoon indicates he's affiliated with Boulder Camera, but that's all I know right now.

UPDATE 10/26/07: I've received a response from Copley News Service to the effect that a $100 fee is required to purchase reprint rights. That's not surprising, and cartoonists and their employers need to make money, too. I have removed the picture, and I'm replacing it with this link: Editorial Cartoon by John Sherffius. Hopefully, that will be sufficient, and I won't be receiving a bill. If I get one, I guess I'll pay it. My copy of the cartoon was out there for a week.

No, I'm not drunk, although I probably should be. I don't drink much at all. There's a very expensive bottle of scotch in my cupboard I'm going to break out in a minute. It was given to me by some of my MS project leaders when I completed a phase of my work for an early Alpha version of Vista (then known only as Longhorn). That bottle's been sitting there for a long time, and my sixtieth birthday seems like a great time to finally allow its intended use. In Vino Veritas! (And that goes for scotch, too!)

Glenfiddich Special Reserve! Aged 12 years before it ever got to me, then about 3-1/2 more years back in the dark recesses of my cupboard. It tastes rich, believe me! It's strong and full-flavored, and there's something about it that says this is the way that scotch is supposed to taste. I haven't tasted Glenfiddich scotch since the mid-seventies in Manhattan, and I don't know that I've ever tasted their "Special Reserve" stock. Microsoft doesn't do anything small. This is the good stuff! I'll work on this for a while, and when I think I'm ready, I'll be ba-a-ack!


I need a better divider than this crappy bamboo border, don't I? I'll look for one. Am I drunk yet? No, no, I don't think so. This scotch is good, though.

I was thinking about a phone call I got yesterday. I live in Washington State's 8th district (like, that's where Microsoft is, dude!), and I got a call last night from Dave Reichert, our Congressman. I participated in a little group discussion (we're having a windstorm right now that's affecting my internet connection. Typing into this blog is flakey -- or is it the scotch?). I'm not sure how many constituents were online with the Congressman, but I waited my turn and was able to ask my question at the end. I asked about Iraq. I asked if it wasn't time to work hard with the rest of Congress to resolve the "problem" of Iraq as soon as possible. Congressman Reichert is a Republican. He's known as a "moderate Republican", in that he makes at least some attempt to protect ANWR, he voted for S-CHIP, that sort of thing. But he firmly defended the Bush tax cuts earlier in the discussion, and in response to my question, he defended the "war". When he complained about the unwieldy prospect of 435 generals (meaning Congress), I complained back. I'm not sure if my phone was open, especially since the Congressman spoke over my response, but I noted "Congressman, it would seem that we have 300 million generals, and most of them are against the war!". I kind of think my remark was heard by the others, but I've no way to be sure.

When Congressman Reichert concluded, it seemed I may have cast a bit of a pall on the otherwise according-to-script procedures, and the Congressman's aide piped up with "Hey, look at the time!", and we all scooted off. I hung around to leave a voice mail, though, to punctuate my anti-war remarks. I believe they went something like: "Congressman, I couldn't disagree with you more about the war. These are life and death matters we're discussing here, sir, and, you know, the odds are, in a year the Democrats will win the election, and we'll go home! [Pause for effect.] Let's go now."

I doubt if I did any good, but it's always nice to get my two cents' worth in. The Congressman's office may have grabbed my contact info as a result of some of my passionate phone calls and email protests, then perhaps confused me with my father (who has the same name, but is a veteran). He may not have realized he called an old hippie!

I'm not going to engage in personal attacks here against Congressman Reichert. He's our Congressman, duly elected as far as I know, and while I may not agree with him on every issue, we still have elections, at least for the time being. We'll see what happens here in Washington's 8th District in 2008. And he does have some good points, and I told him so in the voice mail.


Over the past couple of days, I was also active in commenting on an Ariana Huffington blog on Huffington Post. Ms. Huffington had been granted an interview with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and video for that interview was posted to the web site. For some time prior to the interview, Ms. Huffington had been soliciting questions from web site members and visitors, but of course, everyone just wanted to ask about impeachment. In her "infinite wisdom", apparently, Ms. Huffington chose to ignore that line of reasoning, and in her interview she focused primarily on Iraq, ignoring the question of impeachment entirely. Afterwards, noting the visceral response to her omission, she wrote a new post that opened the floor to commenters regarding her decision. You can read her post and all the comments here: Ending The War vs Impeachment: Following Up on the Pelosi Interview. If you're looking for my comments, I'm "donaldw6", there and many other places on the internet. The passion for impeachment has never been quite so obvious as it is in these comments.

At some point during this group conversation, I got tangled up with someone who calls himself "Professor73". He kept badgering me for proof that the Bush Administration had done anything at all that could be termed an impeachable offense, and I kept trying to provide substantiation for my claims. Eventually, he tried to stoop to condescension, but I didn't bite. I tried to convince him we weren't sufficiently respecting each other's views, and to reassure him that we could find common ground. His response stopped me short. The professor has a son who is soon to be deployed in Iraq. He believes this war would be over quickly if we'd just let it happen. It was awfully hard to know what to say. This is what I responded:

In everything I do or say, sir, I will try to think of what's best for your
son before I think of what's best for me. That's a guarantee!

My prayers are with you and your family.

Then I cried for a while. It's no shock to me that this isn't some abstract mess, that it's real and personal, but it still hit me.

I hate all this! I need another scotch!

It's hard to meditate if you're tipsy. I have not been good today. I'll try again in a few minutes. I've been reading about utopias, since we're Imagining. I think the Utopia I imagined while I was growing up was "Scientific/Technological Utopia", which maybe explains how I became a Windows developer eventually. We expected to have flying cars by now, man-sized cauliflowers big enough to feed everybody, and atomic energy enough for all. We thought science could generate so much surplus, we'd never have to worry again, everything would be done for us, and we'd have an endless array of wondrous toys to play with. We lived in hope.

I don't believe I ever read Sir Thomas More on the topic. I bet I had the book at some point, and now it's in my ex's library somewhere. Oh well. But looking through the summaries on the internet, Sir Thomas envisioned a perfectly ordered and tolerant society with no concept of property, but the arrangement was imposed. The emphasis was not on freedom, but order. It's probably a good thing that the derivation of the word "Utopia" is described as:

from Greek: οὐ no, and τόπος, place, i.e. "no place" or "place that does not exist," as well as "perfect place"

-- Wikipedia

I guess we've known for a long time that perfection will always be an unreachable goal. And if perfection is so impossible, what does it matter, maybe, if we backslide a little? If we're never going to become that truly perfect, humane, and tolerant society, then so what if we torture a little here and there? So what if some fall by the wayside in the Economic Jungle's Survival of the Fittest? So who cares what happens in this evil world? It will all be better in the next life.

I'm sixty. Shixty!

(Hic!)

Why can't I just meditate, and forget all about this pathetic world? I've got what I need from it. I'm no longer dependent on it for additional resources, things being what they are. I have reached a stage where I can successfully stand outside of things, and generate a Zen force field to protect me from feeling for all you youngsters, still struggling, still dreaming. I can exist beyond you now!

Of course, that's not how Zen works.

No meditation today. I'll have to get back to business in the morning. Birthday's over, anyway. It's now 1:28 AM PDT. (When do we go back to Standard Time, anyway? This weekend?)

Psst! Hey, you! Nobody is going to read this birthday blog all the way down this far, so it's just me and you. I'm gonna let it all out, 'cause nobody's ever gonna hear it but you an' me. We're done for. We know what we know, but we don't know what we don't know, and there's something we still don't know. Unless everyone has gone finally, completely insane, there really is an internal logic at work for someone that's behind all that's going on, and I think it's because there's something really bad that can't be stopped. Maybe it's something to do with global warming, maybe it's something in the Middle East, I don't know, you don't know, but things have gotten really stark. It only makes "sense" if we're reacting to something even worse.

I mean, I don't know if we're really about to get WWIII raining down on us, or if Bush and Cheney are going to parade around in their new uniforms tomorrow, but we're seeing a shift. It's not hidden. It's not rumors. This is simply what's being talked about everywhere. Is there anyone not telling you this? Months ago, I thought we might see some small movement towards sanity, because I was sure what I was seeing and hearing couldn't last in a semi-reasonable society, but it's just been ratcheting up. Now we're thinking everything's gonna be fixed by a new election, and instead it's just ratcheting up some more. Do you see a pattern?

Just looking at what we know, it almost seems like enough. Neoconservative philosophies are failing across the globe. The great African Free Trade experiment has been declared a colossal failure, an indictment of Reaganism of historic proportions. Iraq is unspeakable. The Religious Right are spinning like dervishes. Conservatism is in tatters, and harassing children. The great resources of the economic bulwark of the establishment are fading, in addition to blatant exposure as a raging plague on nature. Progressive voices are blasting the truth through the internet, and the public stands clearly opposed by overwhelming majorities to the state of things.

But off we go, rolling merrily along. Because most of us just have work to do, and even though we know, we don't have time. Most of us just get the chance to glance up for a second, see how things have changed, and get back to work. That's how it happens. In Utopia we might have time to do something about this. But when reason fails, the ones with the forces get to take charge. That's what to look forward to.

It will be tried. They've never flinched at trying anything. It's all they've got left besides blackmail.

Fading now. Hope nobody reads this. I'm not sure I remember what I said. Yeah, yeah, happy birthday. Sixty! Who would have ever thought?

It's all part of the great dance, if you look at things cosmically. If you don't discriminate. If you're a True Man of No Rank, you can move through the water without causing a ripple.

Ho-hum! Night, all!