The Constant Grind of The Grand Game

Sisyphus is alive and working hard in the Grand Game of Software Engineering.

Derived from Public Domain by Author

I have a lifelong love of philosophy¹ and sometimes wonder if I’d have taken up an alternative pursuit other than computer science what might otherwise have been². Though, I do reconcile myself to the fact that in my now rapidly advancing years that my appreciation of other people’s thoughts and ideas is somewhat better, and hopefully deeper, than it may have been in my formative years.

That and the fact that working in such a dysfunctional and commonly surreal industry such as software engineering has given me the chance to study the world in microcosm, with pretty much every philosophical (and psychological — but let’s not get into that right now) thread exhibited in some way on a regular basis.

I’ve already touched on Sartre and Bad Faith in the Grand Game with respect to us progressive developers and, more lately, management. I’ve also alluded to how Nietzsche, the much misunderstood genius himself, may have reflected upon how our modern tools have perhaps become our masters too.

I’d like to do more on Nietzsche, he really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Today though it is the turn of the wonderful, and charming, Albert Camus and specifically his observations on absurdity — and how the cognitive…