To be a programmer is to develop a carefully managed relationship with error. There's no getting around it. You either make your accommodations with failure, or the work will become intolerable.
Ellen UllmanRead
Each new tool we create ends an old relationship with the world and starts a new one. And we're changed by that relationship, inevitably. It changes the way we live, changes our patterns, changes our social organization.
Interpretation
What this quote means
New tools alter our interactions with the world and reshape our lives.
Ellen Ullman's quote highlights the transformative impact of technological advancements on human relationships and societal structures. Each innovation not only modifies how we connect with the world around us but also fundamentally alters our ways of living and interacting within our communities, leading to inevitable change in our social dynamics and personal identities.
Themes
TechnologyChangeRelationshipsInnovationSociety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the impact of social media on human interactions.
More from Ellen Ullman
All quotes →So many people for so many years have promoted technology as the answer to everything. The economy wasn't growing: technology. Poor people: technology. Illness: technology. As if, somehow, technology in and of itself would be a solution. Yet machine values are not always human values.
Ellen UllmanRead
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