The programmer on new technology
Not everyone is interested in the past, and not all of us have refused to let it go. Bertram Haddon is one of these people. He is old, and I imagine he has a lot of stories he could tell if he wanted too.
He has invited me to his office which is located in the expensive end of the tech district in London. A lot of successful startups take up offices around Haddon's own.
I'm sorry but I can't offer you anything to drink. I usually don't have any of our kind over and I doubt you'd want a black coffee or a soda.
Haddon sends me half a smile and moves a pile of papers from one side of his desk to the other.
I've heard about your project. I think it's going to do some good for the new generations, and for the older ones too. It's not an easy task keeping up with old acquaintances. This might tell us if they are still out there roaming around.
There is a playful look in Haddon's brown eyes. His hair is pitch black, and there is a golden undertone to his skin. It seems out of place in the gloomy weather that has haunted London for the last couple of days. I send him half a smile before asking him the first question of the day.
Could you tell me what it is you do for a living?
I'm a programmer. Or a computer scientist. Or whatever they call it these days. The field is moving so quickly that it can be hard to keep up.
I've been a part of the tech wave since its birth and I've been programming since programming was invented. Right now that doesn't mean a lot, there are other programmers who have been going for a long time, but give it a decade or two and I'll be the oldest person in the field.
The tech business is a field where youth is half your worth. And even if I look young, I haven't got the connections from university or college that most of the younger tech people do. Sometimes it's a problem, but I've got a good reputation especially with those who've been in the business a little longer.
What drove you to work with computers and computer programming?
Well, I've always had a fascination with machinery. They were way less advanced back in the days, but cockwheels and pattern recognition have always worked the same.
When it was first possible to program at home without owning seven acres of land to stash your computer, I was on. It was fun. Figuring out how a chain of ones and zeroes created an entirely new world. I programmed some rather successful games back in the late eighties early nineties.
Haddon falls silent for a while and I am just about to ask another question when he continues.
Most of us are so focused on preserving the past that we don't stop to appreciate the wonders of the present.
After walking the Roman Empire, I swore to myself that I would appreciate the small things in life. Not grieve the rise and fall of an empire that I would soon be the only one who knew the truth about Even in the time from it was built to it fell, the stories got twisted until they were nothing but tall tales.
Sorry about that, Haddon apologizes, that was kinda a detour.
Anyway, I came to realize that I really like programming and I had a flair for it so I kept going. And sometime around the millennium change, I started building spaces for our people on the web. Places that the humans had no access to; where we could be ourselves.
Well, mostly the same. Even though I do some public projects too. Fronts we show the humans when they search for more information. I was one of the programmers behind the Council's information page for the broader public. We worked on it for months before we went public, and let me tell you one thing– Haddon holds a dramatic pause –I've never seen a website get more traffic in the first twenty four hours than that one. I'm just glad the Council invested in a good host for their website or else it would have crashed within the first five minutes.
Do you know how many of your old forums are still up and running?
Well, I do maintenance on them from time to time. Update the code and such. Most of them are still thriving. Just because the Council decided to step out of the shadows doesn't mean that everyone else followed suit.
And honestly, some sides of our world are not meant to be shared with humans. You know as well as I that behind the mask we show the humans, we are as strange and monstrous as their tales have made us out to be.
We share a knowing look before I ask the last question of the day.
You said before that it's hard to keep up with old acquaintances. Do you think the internet will help us keep in touch?
Honestly? Haddon says, no. The oldest among us are too used to loneliness – no harm intended – and it's hard to get rid of old habits. I don't think I could get enough of us on the same forum for it to actually work, and we change names as often as other people change their underwear.
Although I would like to see what kind of handles people would come up with.
A smile tugs at Haddon's lips. When he stops smiling, his eyes fall on the computer screen and a deep sigh leaves his lips.
I'm sorry, but I have to go. I have a meeting in twenty minutes, and you know how the tube is at this time of day.
Haddon and I talk a little as we leave his office, but as soon as we step out into the street we part our ways. I watch for a moment as Haddon disappears among the other pedestrians before I set off into the crowd myself.
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