As we approach the end of the year, let's reflect on where the digital world is taking us

I studied Computer Science at Queen Mary College, University of London, 1985-88. Back in the dark ages when there wasn't really an internet and no-one had a mobile phone. I absolutely loved it. We had an awesome professor called Peter Landin. A bit of a legend, responsible for applying a mathematical construct called the lambda calculus to computer programming, and involved in inventing an early language called Algol. I remember sitting listening to him talk about data structures. Already an old man, he got really excited talking about the different ways of storing a response to a 50 question multiple choice survey. He said that obviously the answers could be stored as a one dimensional array of 50 items, but they could also be stored as a point in 50 dimensional space. He looked at me when he said that, with a maniacal sparkle in his eye. Awesomeness. I had a spare moment this morning, and I fell down an internet rabbit hole reading about him. His 2009 obituary said that he was quite a political radical, a regular protester, bisexual and a very active member of the Gay Liberation Front. His house in Camden became a gay commune. There was a lot more to Peter than I realized! At the end of the obituary, I read the following, and it somehow really struck me: "Towards the end of his life, Peter became convinced that computing had been a bad idea, giving support to profit-taking corporate interests and a surveillance state, and that he had wasted his energies in promoting it. But whether he liked it or not, his ideas underpin developments to this day." Although I am a great lover of all things digital, and I am not sure I agree, I think it is worth us engaging with Landin's near-end-of-life reflections. #unthink #unask #unlearn #digital #computing