The Parable of the Simpleminded Gamer (ce qu’on comprend et ce qu’on ne comprend pas)
A simpleminded man played a game on his mobile phone, which he did from time to time for leisure (as gamers tend to do). While the game was engaging, it did not require much mental energy. As he played, the core thought in the man’s brain was “tap screen, win game”, and with this mindset, he was able to reach very high scores.
One day, the man’s friend asked him if he understood how the game worked. The man stared blankly. What kind of question was that? He had played many hours of the game, so of course he knew how it worked. However, his friend explained that while the player saw the game’s pretty interface and funny sounds, the essence of the game existed in “code”, which were directives given to computers in a foreign language, enabling the generation of the fun gaming experience.
The man was taken aback, and decided to look into this esoteric concept. He delved into the world of programming — first learning about how to print words to the screen, then appreciating the different data types that a coding language offered. He watched lectures about how algorithms were able to predict drive times, and what went on behind the scenes when a video was loading. He felt like a prisoner who had left his cave and opened his eyes to the wonders of the world. How could he have been so misguided before to believe that the interaction between a user and the smartphone was all there was to it?
One day, the man happened upon his…
