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Foreword

This is my thesis or whatever; this is how it should be read; this is what I intended, this is what I want to find out, and this is what I want you to think about. This is what I’d like you to not think about. This is an attempt to collect my own musings, answer some of my own questions, and pose a couple of new, more clever ones. This is not an attempt to do this and this. I know there are many gaps in my knowledge. I hope I have still got something of value to offer you. This project was undertaken around this time. If you want to have a go at the practical part of this project, click here. I’m me. You can get in touch with me here or here.

Magic as Metaphor

Coding is a bit like magic. I’m serious. Let me explain: I began diving into web development about four years ago. What initially fascinated me about coding was this idea of writing letters, number, and symbols, and then seeing them turn into visual shapes as you click save. I realised pretty quickly that learning how to code does not require you to be a math wizard. However, it does make you feel a little bit like a magician. After all, what you are doing when coding is talking to the computer in a language it can interpret, and telling it what to do, thereby manipulating the digital environment.

“Magick is the Art and Science of causing change to occur in conformity with will”

Aleister Crowley

Binary code and the I Ching

The idea of words manifesting reality is nothing new, just think of the old magic spells. (????? SPELLCASTING IN GAMES HERE ??????) The first verse of the gospel of John reads: «In the beginning was the Word». For this project I looked at how the coding languages of today have their origin in the esoteric traditions of the past. The binary number system, used in just about every computer today, was formalised by the German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz in the late 1600s. Leibniz was a student of esotericism and his work was inspired by ancient Chinese philosophy and the I Ching.

“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic”

Albus Dumbledore

Link to Florian Cramer's Words Made Flesh and/or quote?

info? link til wikipedia? eller burde jeg skrive en kort forklaring i selve teksten?

Seeing technology as magic

Being familiar with the world of coding, and having a childhood deeply impacted by Harry Potter, this knowledge makes me excited. But seeing digital technology as something magical has its downsides. A lot of people feel intimidated by it, and this illusion of the digital as something immaterial (hover: Eric Raymond: «Code is a representation of tiny switches being flipped») makes it seem even harder to learn, leading people to become passive.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Arthur C. Clarke, Clarke's Three Laws

Timo Arnall; the myth of immateriality; invisible interfaces

Title

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Arthur C. Clarke, Clarke's Three Laws

Timo Arnall; the myth of immateriality; invisible interfaces

Title

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Arthur C. Clarke, Clarke's Three Laws

Timo Arnall; the myth of immateriality; invisible interfaces

Bibliography

Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991
Some book, by Some Author, 1991