Grouse

It's kinda sad, if you think about it. Whenever people such as I identify ourselves as having or are taking a course in Computer Science, the natural reaction of people will go something like "Oh, so do you know how to do this effect for MSWord?" I mean, it sucks because people have this preconceived notion that we who are in Computer Science are being schooled in the arts of using various office productivity software. It also shows how good a job the Microsoft marketing department has been doing; to be able to reinforce the idea the Computer Science = Microsoft products.

Well, for the most part, the people are not exactly wrong. Most of us who are in Computer Science usually have a knack with things related to computers; well even in the most unfortunate case of having to deal with a completely new system, Computer Scientists tend to be able to figure things out much faster than the other people. However, it is truly irritating when that is the only perception that people have on Computer Scientists. Personally, I feel that it shows a certain form of disdain by the masses on the work that we do, as though Computer Scientists are like the vermin of society, who could only manipulate commercial software products like MSWord. I mean, our work is no less important than say the Electrical/Electronic Engineers or even the Musicians; it is just that most of what we do doesn't impact people that overtly in their lives.

Ever wondered what passes through the mind of a non-tech-savvy person? Well, I did, but I never quite figured out what they really thought about us who are in the Computer Science field. I mean, I can understand why sometimes they display some level of awe when we accomplish some seemingly impossible task on the computer (at least to them), but I cannot understand why at the same time they will issue this stereotype onto you and label you as the dude-who-did-this-I-don't-understand-thing-on-the-computer. It is curious since the same people often do not use the same tactics on people who are doing something more visible, like the engineers. No one seems to label the Mechanical Engineer as the dude-who-did-this-I-don't-understand-thing-on-the-<insert mechanical hardware>; mostly they can just look at what has been done and sort of understand it.

I have no clue why people treat Computer Scientists with such weird disposition. I mean, we are humans after all, doing what we do best (with computers), which is not unlike the Musicians who can play their instruments, or the Engineers who could build stuff that works. What makes me really sad is that there seems to be a complete conspiracy of the mainstream society against those of the Computer Scientists. Ever heard of bad coverage on Engineers? Those are mild compared to the various mass media-assigned terms on us Computer Scientists. Among those who give us the worst of all labels and stereotypes, the mass media ought to take the most of the blame. For they have always been at fault right from the very beginning. Whenever there is some kind of news report related to computers, they make it sound as though the Computer Scientist is the one at fault. They take our terms and corrupt them (Hacker vs Cracker, RAM/memory vs Hard disk space to name a few), blame our programs for the dumb things people do (rampage shooting linked to "violent video games", copyright infringement linked to "file sharing technologies"), poke fun at us without mercy (all the fat-nerd jokes and stereotypes in films) and even blame us on things that we don't even have control over (global warming due to use of energy and since computers use energy, we're at fault).

The saddest thing is, even with evidence contrary to the point that the mass media put across, the damage is done and we're condemned.

Politicians seem to make lots of comments on how technology will cause the utter downfall of society, due to it's far reaching effects. And among their policies so far, the ones that they seem to be targetting at the most nowadays is that of computer technology. Back in the latter half of the 20th century, the technology that was under the spot-light for policy makers was that of nuclear energy. Everyone witnessed the absolute destructive power of the nuclear bomb during World War II, and it seemed to be of paramount importance that such widespread use of such a terrible technology should be curbed. Well, the intentions were good, but then again if the proliferation were of such concern, why did the two biggest countries stockpiled massive amounts of the weapon?

Now, in a post nuclear-war-danger era and post-9/11 era, the focus seems to be that of the computer and its supposed ill-effects. It is said that most of the coordination of the terrorists was done via the Internet, and thus many of the governing bodies have tried legislative means of controlling the Internet, or at least the Internet within their geographical boundaries. Too many high school shootings later, politicians think that video games have a negative impact on minors and are striving to obtain an outright ban for that age group. Internet music was under fire recently when various companies decided to lobby the politicians to reign in the folks who were sharing commercial music illegally, and the politicians promptly went down the draconian route of banning all forms of internet music.

What's wrong with these people and all these reactions? If we look carefully at this, we realise that the people who are making the most noise on the issues are often the ones who seem to least understand them; has anyone seen a qualified Computer Scientist standing up and voicing the dissent that the people are showing?

Technology is never at fault; people are. Technology is just an entity, a piece of knowledge. By itself, it is never wrong; there is no wrong or right with technology. Technology's use is the thing that can be wrong or right, and its use is determined by the people. My only hope is that people will try to understand computer technology and Computer Scientists better, and deal with the real issue of usage rather than trying to ban outright the technology itself.

Education, I believe, is still the best solution for most of the problems that we are facing nowadays.