Even Keeled

A favorite short story that I remember, at least the title, vividly is The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones.  The basic premise is the return of a Vietnam vet to civilian life and the struggle encountered in turning off the brutal instincts honed during war.   At the most basic, a story of a nihilist Boxer who struggles to see the good in the world, no final rest or satisfaction, just a determined acceptance to the way things are.  A significantly more eloquent and subtle parable of the now in vogue “it is what it is”.

The tension in the four word title is palpable and carries a forbading tone.  Can a pugilist, a warrior, ever be truly at rest?  The angry machine, once started can it ever be turned off?  This duality is a common theme in history, and in life, Jones is merely the latest to place allegorically in prose.  Another slightly less explicit theme is the lack of trust in those around him, friend or foe. 

For most in the technology industry, both concepts are constants though hardly discussed: there is always another improvement, a better way, a product to be improved, satisfaction is never achieved, when it is, you’ve become complacent and should move on.  Likewise, people are inefficient,  computers don’t do want you want them to, but what you program them to do.

However, just as a pugilist questions what good he has brought to the world from each battle, everyone in technology must ask themselves, at some point, am I enriching people’s lives?  If not, what satisfaction am I able to realize?  When you cannot point to something tangible, perhaps its time to move on.   More directly, are you a producer or a consumer? 

I wound up in tech mostly by accident.  I didn’t study computer science, engineering or anything related remotely to what I do on a daily basis.  What started as a summer job to escape the drudgery of working in a law office and returning to law school became a career.  However, I continually find myself asking “am I really enriching people’s lives.”  I solve problems, which over time increasingly are those manufactured by circumstances unrelated to my longer term objectives. 

I find my interests increasingly drawn to food related concepts. Whether starting a Pizza restaurant or understanding why the global price of grain is illogical rising, the notion of directly, and literally, enriching peoples lives (or stomachs) is something I ultimately want to focus my energy.   In other words, I want to produce, in mass quantity, rather than relentlessly consume.