Daniel Dennett on Evolution

Evolution is one of the central themes of this book, as of all my books, for the simple reason that it is the central, enabling process not only of life but also of knowledge and learning and understanding. If you attempt to make sense of the world of ideas and meanings, free will and morality, art and science and even philosophy itself without a sound and quite detailed knowledge of evolution, you have one hand tied behind your back.

• Daniel Dennett in Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking (2013)

An Addiction of Sorts

Steve Lohr on Ken Thompson in his book "Go To":

He has called programming an addiction of sorts, and it was in the Berkeley computer center that he got hooked. Sitting in the Bell Labs offices years later, he described the appeal as having all the craftsman's satisfactions of making things, without the cost and trouble of procuring all the materials. "It's like building something where you don't have to order the cement," Thompson said. "You create a world of your own, your own environment, and you never leave this room."

This is exactly how I felt when I stopped building physical things and learned to program. Now if I only had 1% of Ken's ability.