The Black Box

I've been reading a book called Using Computers to Create Art by Stephen Wilson (1986). While the technical contents are very obsolete, the author's observations are still relevant. One of Wilson's goals is to make computers more accessible to people with artistic inclinations. He feels that right-brained people need to become more involved in the evolution of technology by contributing creative designs, producing social commentary, and even developing entirely new art forms that put the latest technology to use. Left-brainers, the ones who currently spearhead technological development, tend to obfuscate things with unnecessary complexity, and can become disconnected from the aesthetic and moral issues that impact our society. He compares modern engineers to the priests of Ancient Egypt, who used black boxes adorned with hieroglyphs as props in their mysterious rituals. “They are so accustomed to ministering to the ordained purposes of the box in the ordained ways that they have lost touch with other possibilities for it. They have also lost the ability to talk to people outside the sacred caste.”

This goes to show that stereotype that computer programmers have poor communication skills is incorrect. They merely spend most of their time speaking a different language from everyone else!
Wilson's analogy should resonate with anyone who's spent time learning the arcane "hieroglyphics" of DOS or UNIX.