“Behind this mask there is more than just flesh and blood. Beneath this mask there is an idea… and ideas are bulletproof.” — V in ‘V for Vendetta’ by Alan Moore The idea of code as a language is such a beautiful concept. It is bits… they do not exist in the ‘real’ world and yet a computer understands this abstract symphony of ‘0’s and ‘1’s so well. A computer may it be your smartphone, PC, smartwatch or any other electronic device is a dumb machine, the underlying code is the intelligence. It is not the brain which exists as hardware (cpu, microprocessors, whatever you wish to call it), a code is rather a set of detailed instructions to this brain. How to make lemonade If I ask you to make lemonade, this is probably what you would do; Go to the fridge. Step 1: Get lemons and cold water. Step 2: If there is no cold water, open the freezer and get ice. Step 3: Get an empty glass. Step 4: Squeeze the lemon in the glass, pour cold water or water and ice. Step 5: Add sugar to taste. Some of you may want salt too.. that’s gross. Step 6: Lemonade is ready. Step 7: ... … Simple, right? NO! What you are probably doing is this; Recognizing whether you are in the house, what a house means, the concept of 3 Dimensional space. Step 1: Recalling the concept of a lemon, that it is citrus in nature, a generic shape of the lemon, acceptable coloration, where it might be located in the house. Step 2: Knowing/guessing that it is in the fridge because a fridge is a device that increases the shelf life of products and recalling having kept lemons in the fridge sometime last week (this would involve knowing the concept of time… that is a separate discussion). Step 3: Locating the position of the fridge. Step 4: Moving towards the fridge. This involves a lot of obstacle tackling learnt during childhood. Step 5: Recalling how a fridge looks generally. Step 6: Looking at the handle of the fridge. Step 7: Recalling from memory the concept of a handle, maybe a lever. Step 8: Recalling how to grip the handle. Step 9: Gripping the handle firmly. Step 10: Applying force. Step 11: … … … (We haven’t even found lemons yet!) Each step can be further broken down into a detailed set of instructions that might fill up an entire library. Doesn’t it make you wonder how sophisticated a human brain is and how all this feels effortless. You might want to admire the human brain when you look at a lemon the next time. This could be a lot more detailed, but you get the idea now. Making lemonade is an extremely difficult task for a robot/computer. This intelligence is imbibed in a computer by some of us through typing in these set of instructions with meticulous detail (or sometimes making a robot that writes these details). This set of instructions is referred to as an 'algorithm' in computer jargon. It is difficult, and in a lot of ways extremely fulfilling. Knowing how to code is indeed a super power and I wanted to acquire it. More on this in the next post. When life gives you lemons… think about it. P.S. Here's a recipe for . lemonade
