Programming a Human

I think in strange paradigms. This morning I reflected that when Lucas was born I said things like "I wanted a kid so that I could program him!" This elicited comments like "The launch OS is a little buggy, needs to reboot a lot" and "what language do you program a baby with?" Obviously, the answer to that is "I'll be using a lot of java, and he'll get some byte code."

Anyway, after a moment, I realized that I HAVE been programming him, but the difference between him and a normal program is that I've been creating a machine that can program others.

Or, at least, exploit the programming of others.

Humans have a concept of social norms, things that offer nominal or no value to the creation or rendering of goods or services, but have a huge psychological impact on us. For example: "Please" and "Thank you."

"Please" offers very little in the way of advancing the topic of conversation forward, but is a psychological hack that people utilize to get what they want. Think about it; how often have you used the word "Please" after making a demand so that the other person feels like they have a choice?

"Thank you" is a bit different; when my dad and I went hunting, we'd handle very sharp knives, occasionally with gloved hands. When we'd hand a knife to one another, "Thank you" would be the expression we used to signify that "I have control of the knife now, you can let go." In addition, "Thank you" can be used to signify the end of a conversation, or the termination of a message.

But it's also a hack. One can say "Thank you," and turn away from another before they've had a chance to retort, or even reply. The listener might feel slighted, but less so than if "Thank you" hadn't been said.

Why am I talking about all of this? Back to Lucas; he's aware of these words, and uses them frequently, along with a few other normative expressions like "Sorry." These are some of his first concepts, the building blocks he'll develop the rest of his communication on.

I'm raising a little social engineer, and I'm a proud daddy.