Sepho – Reading

9. The Critical Engineer notes that written code expands into social and psychological realms, regulating behavior between people and the machines they interact with. By understanding this, the Critical Engineer seeks to reconstruct user-constraints and social action through means of digital excavation.

As someone seeking to use code add interactivity as a medium for artwork it is crucial for me to learn how to push these systems constructed in computer science of pure, applied, logic and math.  To learn how to use code as a foundation to explore, express, and question the nature of ideas in much the same way paint or clay would be used. This is the main idea that stands out to me in the quote above when compared to the 10 other items in the manifesto, the idea that it is vital to understand the scope of your work and its effect on others both individually and within a system or institution. Some hypothetical examples of this need to consider scope maybe being some perfectly realistic simulation created solely to push the boundaries of what is possible technically. A simulation like this would be amazing in terms of technology but what must also be considered is what kind of effects something like a perfect, indistinguishable-from-life simulation, would have on the human psyche or society in general. What would we not need anymore? Would things like travel lose significance? It is always important to keep scope in mind.