a glob of nerdishness

Though it’s really not an interest, I’ve been thinking about our response to spam a lot lately ever since I started seeing it as sin in the raw form of the word. It shouldn’t be a surprise, as even many who might laugh at the concept of “sin” describe spam as evil. (The author of SpamKarma, the tool I am currently using to shield you from endless pharmaceuticals, has laughed such laughs.) Thinking of spam as a sinful-human problem instead of a rogue-machine problem can change the way we approach the solution. I have a few more posts prepared related to this particular topic, which in the interest of not overwhelming you with my prolixity, I plan to spread out over the next week or so. Hopefully, talking about spam doesn’t bore you as much as it does me.

I spent the day writing up a solution that I think addresses some of these concerns. Why? I understand computer-based spam filtering has made definite progress. Yet I think AI-based technology will continue to be a battle we can only half win, analogous to many wars the United States has taken on in the last half of a century(1). Guns and computers are both highly inadequate tools when it comes to solving human problems. Yes, we have defended life with weaponry and we have facilitated community with machinery. But it’s not ideal. To think we can discourage spammers with computers is a man-versus-nature story to which most authors(2) would write a different ending.

To believe that technology can save us from spam is just as idolatrous as believing technology can save us from any other consequence of our sinfulness. We’ve relied on technology to do what we can’t for so long that now we are beginning to rely on it to do what we won’t. Our world would rather research and develop a cute and cuddly “Mental Commitment Robot”s than spend time with the sick and the elderly. If the pictures at the bottom of that linked page don’t break our heart as Christians who are supposed to be the power of Christ and the love of God, I don’t know what it will take to wake us from our technicism.

1. It is not my intent to make light of the current, or any previous, war. I am primarily a programmer. I am not a historian, not a strategist, not God. For the sake of those in the Middle East and for the sake of our troops, I hope and pray that Operation Iraqi Freedom will turn out as just that: political, economic and spiritual freedom. Sadly, I’ve been feeling more and more like one side has gotten us sorely off on the wrong foot, and the other side is intent on not letting any mistakes get fixed regardless of cost. All for what? [Very naughty word] politics. Please consider reminding a soldier of the joyful, wondrous and beautiful sides of the life they fight for, even if you must set aside some cynicism to do so.
2. Yet it would be a disservice to you as a reader to pretend that everyone accepts the man/nature or the man/machine dichotomy. Much to the contrary. Perhaps this is why technologists get so excited about robots. Feeling they have breathed life into a machine gives them hope that computers can not only solve our homework problems, but also the problems we have on the playground.