Steve Jobs died just over a week ago and, of course, there was hullabaloo galore. Just this past weekend, Dennis Ritchie passed and plenty of people are just learning of it now. For those who didn't follow that link, Dennis Ritchie was the co-creator of both the C programming language and the Unix operating system/kernel. For those of us who work with software for a living, the impact of his work cannot be understated. Still, I can't help wanting to slap my friends and colleagues who are expressing indignation about the comparative lack of outpouring.
Obviously, the entire technological landscape depends on Ritchie's work. C and its various extensions and offspring have dominated the programming landscape forever, and most of the web lives on servers running Unix-like operating systems (not to mention Mac OSX). But most people don't care about what makes the things they use work. If they did, we'd be a society of engineers and scientists. People care about how well things work, and Jobs was a master of providing technology that simply worked better -- or at least more intuitively -- than anything else out there.
More than that, Jobs was an incredibly public person managing an even more prominent company that virtually everybody has strong feelings about in one direction or the other. As near to the end as he could, he was keeping himself visible and relevant as he promoted the work and products of his company. What has Ritchie done in the last 40 years? I can't find anything other than winning awards for the contributions of C and Unix and sitting on a number of research boards.
So, while it's certainly sad that so few people even knew that Ritchie died, don't bring Steve Jobs into things. Their legacies have nothing in common, and we shouldn't expect remotely the same reaction.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Imagining An Ideal Multiplayer Experience for Mass Effect
The news is out, Mass Effect 3 will have multiplayer. At first blush, this seems like potentially troublesome water. Obviously, with squad AI being less than great, it could be a real boon to have a friend just pop into your game and control one of your teammates for you, but I don't think that's what this is going to be. For one thing, that would create all kinds of logistical troubles with the power wheel (can either teammate simply pause the action at any time to use a special ability a la Secret of Mana back in the day?), enemy AI (which tends to focus on Shep whenever possible, making it exploitable by a smart teammate), and victory conditions (I'd hate to be the second player who gets screwed and has to restart because Shepard acted the fool). For another, that seems like something that could have been announced back at E3 when they were already showing off new ways to control your squad with Kinect.
No, I'm guessing that this is going to be a distinct gameplay mode, either a side story a la the Splinter Cell coop missions or a set of traditional competitive gameplay types with a Mass Effect spin.
This, obviously, could suck.
That said, it doesn't have to. Imagine this:
Our basic template is Monday Night Combat, and if you haven't played MNC by now, shame on you. In short, it's a third person, class based, squad shooter where each class has three abilities they can level up as a round progresses. That's the foundation we need, but not with the standard, DOTA-esque gameplay mode, which just isn't something most people have an aptitude for (90% of the time, I've wound up on a team who think the objective is just to kill people and we get massacred).
Now, instead of those classes, we move ahead with the Mass Effect classes we all know and love: Soldier, Infiltrator, Engineer, Sentinel, Adept, Vanguard. These are differentiated by access to various Tech, Biotic, and Combat abilities.
Instead of shields or barriers, Soldiers have heavy armor that does not regenerate and health that does. They have access to all weapon types and can swap between three weapon ammo types: Incendiary (DOT), Cryo (slow/freeze unprotected enemies), Disruptor (increased damage to both shields and barriers).
Engineers have stronger than normal shields and can only use pistols and SMGs. However, they get access to Overload (heavy damage to enemy shields, temporary damage increase to unprotected enemies), Sabotage (prevent usage of the current weapon), and Combat Drone (moves around zapping nearby foes, knockdown burst on destruction).
Adepts have extra-powerful biotic barriers and also only get to use weaker weapons. They get warp (heavy damage to enemy barriers, temp. damage increase to unprotected enemies), Throw (knockdown, added damage to unprotected enemies), and Stasis (immobilization but increased defense).
Infiltrators have shields and can use rifles along with pistols and smgs. They can cloak temporarily as their unique ability and get to select at spawn time between one of Overload and Sabotage and one of Cryo ammo or Incendiary Ammo.
Vanguards have barriers and can use shotguns along with pistols and msgs. The can use Biotic Charge to move quickly between locations (effect of charging into a target TBD). They then get access to one of Warp and Throw and one of Cry and Incendiary Ammo at spawn.
Sentinels can spawn with either shields or barriers. Their special ability lets them swap between the two, quickly recharging to the opposite form of protection if their current form is depleted. They can only use pistols and SMGs and get to choose one of Overload and Sabotage and one of Throw and Warp.
A single round would consist of small-ish teams (6-8?) competing in traditional objective modes. Control point, attack/defend, CTF with Cerberus being pit against Citadel forces. Deathmatch is possible, but certainly plays less strongly to the class-based structure. As you kill people, get killed, and complete objectives, you unlock currency (at differing rates) used to boost your abilities for the remainder of the round.
Outside of matches, players can make a number of larger modifications to the way they want their classes to play. Superficially, they can control what race and appearance they want for each of their classes -- though obviously with less granularity than they get with Shep. They can also adjust the upgrade path for their abilities (different levels can increase AoE, reduce cooldown, up damage, or have other effects depending on the ability). I know that the main game is also going to have some fairly involved weapon customization, so maybe bring in some of that, too, in order to keep things from becoming too rote.
If they take this basic stripped down version of the traditional Mass Effect level tree along with the improved gunplay that they've already brought into the mix and provide adequate balance along with an effective way of aiming powers, I think they could come up with a pretty compelling experience. I'd certainly play it.
No, I'm guessing that this is going to be a distinct gameplay mode, either a side story a la the Splinter Cell coop missions or a set of traditional competitive gameplay types with a Mass Effect spin.
This, obviously, could suck.
That said, it doesn't have to. Imagine this:
Our basic template is Monday Night Combat, and if you haven't played MNC by now, shame on you. In short, it's a third person, class based, squad shooter where each class has three abilities they can level up as a round progresses. That's the foundation we need, but not with the standard, DOTA-esque gameplay mode, which just isn't something most people have an aptitude for (90% of the time, I've wound up on a team who think the objective is just to kill people and we get massacred).
Now, instead of those classes, we move ahead with the Mass Effect classes we all know and love: Soldier, Infiltrator, Engineer, Sentinel, Adept, Vanguard. These are differentiated by access to various Tech, Biotic, and Combat abilities.
Instead of shields or barriers, Soldiers have heavy armor that does not regenerate and health that does. They have access to all weapon types and can swap between three weapon ammo types: Incendiary (DOT), Cryo (slow/freeze unprotected enemies), Disruptor (increased damage to both shields and barriers).
Engineers have stronger than normal shields and can only use pistols and SMGs. However, they get access to Overload (heavy damage to enemy shields, temporary damage increase to unprotected enemies), Sabotage (prevent usage of the current weapon), and Combat Drone (moves around zapping nearby foes, knockdown burst on destruction).
Adepts have extra-powerful biotic barriers and also only get to use weaker weapons. They get warp (heavy damage to enemy barriers, temp. damage increase to unprotected enemies), Throw (knockdown, added damage to unprotected enemies), and Stasis (immobilization but increased defense).
Infiltrators have shields and can use rifles along with pistols and smgs. They can cloak temporarily as their unique ability and get to select at spawn time between one of Overload and Sabotage and one of Cryo ammo or Incendiary Ammo.
Vanguards have barriers and can use shotguns along with pistols and msgs. The can use Biotic Charge to move quickly between locations (effect of charging into a target TBD). They then get access to one of Warp and Throw and one of Cry and Incendiary Ammo at spawn.
Sentinels can spawn with either shields or barriers. Their special ability lets them swap between the two, quickly recharging to the opposite form of protection if their current form is depleted. They can only use pistols and SMGs and get to choose one of Overload and Sabotage and one of Throw and Warp.
A single round would consist of small-ish teams (6-8?) competing in traditional objective modes. Control point, attack/defend, CTF with Cerberus being pit against Citadel forces. Deathmatch is possible, but certainly plays less strongly to the class-based structure. As you kill people, get killed, and complete objectives, you unlock currency (at differing rates) used to boost your abilities for the remainder of the round.
Outside of matches, players can make a number of larger modifications to the way they want their classes to play. Superficially, they can control what race and appearance they want for each of their classes -- though obviously with less granularity than they get with Shep. They can also adjust the upgrade path for their abilities (different levels can increase AoE, reduce cooldown, up damage, or have other effects depending on the ability). I know that the main game is also going to have some fairly involved weapon customization, so maybe bring in some of that, too, in order to keep things from becoming too rote.
If they take this basic stripped down version of the traditional Mass Effect level tree along with the improved gunplay that they've already brought into the mix and provide adequate balance along with an effective way of aiming powers, I think they could come up with a pretty compelling experience. I'd certainly play it.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Fiction Practice
Somehow, I don't have any work to do for class right now. Wound up cranking this out fairly quickly as I killed time. I intend to keep working at it, since I'm starting to get an idea of where it might go, but I probably won't post more here. Thought feedback could be useful, though. Fair warning: I've never quite figured out how to handle prose dialogue within my default writing style. I feel like I swap over to writing a script the moment I have characters interacting verbally. Fixing this is my major goal for this project. Okay, story:
As usual, Darren woke up five minutes before his alarm was set to go off. He laid in bed staring at it, hoping desperately that it wouldn’t sound. If it didn’t, it might mean that it was secretly a weekend or a holiday or some other day where he wouldn’t be expected at work instead of just Thursday. Three hundred seconds later it turned out to be Thursday after all. Darren cursed history for not having provided anything worth celebrating on this particular date as he hauled himself out of bed and staggered into another day.
Coffee, of course, was the first order of business. Darren briefly considered the sack of fair-trade beans sitting prominently on the counter next to an overpriced French press as he tried to remember a time before the amount of effort you put into making your coffee was a direct reflection on your coolness. Surely, it wouldn’t be long before old-fashioned convenience was trendy again and he could stop pretending he actually used those ridiculous things. He pulled the actual coffee pot and the can of grounds out from the cupboard by the sink. He preferred the taste to that crap from Guatemala or wherever it came from, and it never asked him to feel guilty over his privileged existence.
Well, relatively privileged.
He hopped into the shower while the coffee brewed and tried to determine just how embarrassed he should be about the night before. The problem wasn’t that he’d had too much to drink. After all, Darren’s budget and conscience conspired to impose a fairly strict limit of four drinks per night under ordinary circumstances. No, the problem was that, in his nervousness, he’d consumed his allotment far too quickly. It had taken him weeks to convince Abbey that it was worth going on a date with a coworker, that they had enough in comon that the potential for paperwork wasn’t enough to merit not giving it a shot. He wasn’t sure if she’d slap him when he inevitably ran into her at the office or if she’d laugh at him. He did know that he’d prefer the slap.
The urge for coffee hit again as soon as he stepped out of the shower. He gulped down one cup before he finished getting dressed and poured the rest of the pot into a travel mug before sauntering down to the next corner. It was a chilly morning, which the weather forecast suggested would set the tone for the rest of the day. Darren fastened another button on his flannel shirt and largely ignored the cold while waiting for his bus to arrive. He saw Roger as he boarded, sat down across from him and took a swig from his mug, knowing full well what was coming next.
“So?” Roger asked.
“‘So,’ what?” Darren was not looking forward to this.
“Dinner. With Abbey. How did it go?”
“Less well than it could have.”
“That’s not saying much. How, particularly, did it stray from the ideal?”
“I may have propositioned her”
“May have?”
“It’s quite possible that the first words out of my mouth after dinner arrived were,” Darren glanced around and lowered both the pitch and volume of his voice, “‘So, we gonna fuck tonight?’” He must not have been quiet enough because an older lady turned around to frown at his choice of words.
“I take it she ordered the steak?” Roger smirked. Darren was not particularly amused.
“It was a joke! I said it in a funny voice and everything!”
“Well, maybe it wasn’t so bad.”
“She made an excuse to duck out as soon as she finished her chicken. Left half of her baked potato right there on the plate.”
Roger paused to choose a new cliche. “Hey, it’s not like she’s that great a catch.”
“Roger, this girl knows the full starting lineups for the Cardinals, both Arizona and St. Louis. Her favorite Coen Brothers movie is The Man Who Wasn’t There. She cried when Gandalf died, and she can play Chopin in her sleep.”
“...That sucks, man.”
“That it does.” Darren took another swig of coffee and questioned his decision not to add just a drop or four of whiskey to it.
As usual, Darren woke up five minutes before his alarm was set to go off. He laid in bed staring at it, hoping desperately that it wouldn’t sound. If it didn’t, it might mean that it was secretly a weekend or a holiday or some other day where he wouldn’t be expected at work instead of just Thursday. Three hundred seconds later it turned out to be Thursday after all. Darren cursed history for not having provided anything worth celebrating on this particular date as he hauled himself out of bed and staggered into another day.
Coffee, of course, was the first order of business. Darren briefly considered the sack of fair-trade beans sitting prominently on the counter next to an overpriced French press as he tried to remember a time before the amount of effort you put into making your coffee was a direct reflection on your coolness. Surely, it wouldn’t be long before old-fashioned convenience was trendy again and he could stop pretending he actually used those ridiculous things. He pulled the actual coffee pot and the can of grounds out from the cupboard by the sink. He preferred the taste to that crap from Guatemala or wherever it came from, and it never asked him to feel guilty over his privileged existence.
Well, relatively privileged.
He hopped into the shower while the coffee brewed and tried to determine just how embarrassed he should be about the night before. The problem wasn’t that he’d had too much to drink. After all, Darren’s budget and conscience conspired to impose a fairly strict limit of four drinks per night under ordinary circumstances. No, the problem was that, in his nervousness, he’d consumed his allotment far too quickly. It had taken him weeks to convince Abbey that it was worth going on a date with a coworker, that they had enough in comon that the potential for paperwork wasn’t enough to merit not giving it a shot. He wasn’t sure if she’d slap him when he inevitably ran into her at the office or if she’d laugh at him. He did know that he’d prefer the slap.
The urge for coffee hit again as soon as he stepped out of the shower. He gulped down one cup before he finished getting dressed and poured the rest of the pot into a travel mug before sauntering down to the next corner. It was a chilly morning, which the weather forecast suggested would set the tone for the rest of the day. Darren fastened another button on his flannel shirt and largely ignored the cold while waiting for his bus to arrive. He saw Roger as he boarded, sat down across from him and took a swig from his mug, knowing full well what was coming next.
“So?” Roger asked.
“‘So,’ what?” Darren was not looking forward to this.
“Dinner. With Abbey. How did it go?”
“Less well than it could have.”
“That’s not saying much. How, particularly, did it stray from the ideal?”
“I may have propositioned her”
“May have?”
“It’s quite possible that the first words out of my mouth after dinner arrived were,” Darren glanced around and lowered both the pitch and volume of his voice, “‘So, we gonna fuck tonight?’” He must not have been quiet enough because an older lady turned around to frown at his choice of words.
“I take it she ordered the steak?” Roger smirked. Darren was not particularly amused.
“It was a joke! I said it in a funny voice and everything!”
“Well, maybe it wasn’t so bad.”
“She made an excuse to duck out as soon as she finished her chicken. Left half of her baked potato right there on the plate.”
Roger paused to choose a new cliche. “Hey, it’s not like she’s that great a catch.”
“Roger, this girl knows the full starting lineups for the Cardinals, both Arizona and St. Louis. Her favorite Coen Brothers movie is The Man Who Wasn’t There. She cried when Gandalf died, and she can play Chopin in her sleep.”
“...That sucks, man.”
“That it does.” Darren took another swig of coffee and questioned his decision not to add just a drop or four of whiskey to it.
Monday, September 26, 2011
I Still Love HIMYM Despite Myself
I watched the first four seasons of How I Met Your Mother four times in a single year. It's a show for which I have inexplicable patience in large doses. It's fun, often clever, and features a core cast of characters with whom I immediately connected. Still, that didn't stop me from being less than optimistic about the show's future while I watched the fifth season as it aired. Post-jilting, the series hadn't seemed to deal a lot with the central premise of the show beyond offering a lot of teases. The season meandered a lot but didn't really commit to anything for more than an episode at a time beyond a couple of ill-fated pairings for Robin. The result was a collection of mildly amusing episodes that manage to be significantly less bad when you're watching them en masse without expectations.
Season six, on the other hand, managed to lose me about halfway through (shortly after a certain funeral). It spent an awful lot of time focusing on Ted's flirtatious relationship with a new addition who we absolutely knew wasn't The Mother -- mostly because of things we already knew about The Mother but also because she was already married. I missed a couple of episodes, which prevented me from catching up on CBS' website, and just gave up. I hear that Zooey ditched her husband or some such and that she and Ted dated for awhile and it was all as pointless as it seemed.
Season seven started last week, though, and I'm now caught up with the first three episodes, and I have to say, I'm feeling hopeful. It could just be the effect of watching 3 episodes at once and my lingering affection for these people, but I think it's making important steps to clear the way for the Event We've Been Waiting For. There have already been needless teases, including the cliffhanger ending of the second episode, but the season so far seems to have set an admirable goal: helping Ted move beyond his past and remembering how to believe in romance again.
I'm not sure if this will make it a show I look forward to watching week-by-week the way I do Community or Parks and Recreation, but at the very least, I suddenly find myself looking forward to binging on this season in a year's time when I can speed through the teasing and just watch these people grow and learn and enjoy one another. Hell, I'll probably go and pick up season 6 just so I can see what shenanigans I missed in the middle of all the time wasting.
Season six, on the other hand, managed to lose me about halfway through (shortly after a certain funeral). It spent an awful lot of time focusing on Ted's flirtatious relationship with a new addition who we absolutely knew wasn't The Mother -- mostly because of things we already knew about The Mother but also because she was already married. I missed a couple of episodes, which prevented me from catching up on CBS' website, and just gave up. I hear that Zooey ditched her husband or some such and that she and Ted dated for awhile and it was all as pointless as it seemed.
Season seven started last week, though, and I'm now caught up with the first three episodes, and I have to say, I'm feeling hopeful. It could just be the effect of watching 3 episodes at once and my lingering affection for these people, but I think it's making important steps to clear the way for the Event We've Been Waiting For. There have already been needless teases, including the cliffhanger ending of the second episode, but the season so far seems to have set an admirable goal: helping Ted move beyond his past and remembering how to believe in romance again.
I'm not sure if this will make it a show I look forward to watching week-by-week the way I do Community or Parks and Recreation, but at the very least, I suddenly find myself looking forward to binging on this season in a year's time when I can speed through the teasing and just watch these people grow and learn and enjoy one another. Hell, I'll probably go and pick up season 6 just so I can see what shenanigans I missed in the middle of all the time wasting.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
I Heart Math
I'm trying to organize some thoughts about computing, creativity, creation, and theology. This is the only thing that's come out so far that makes sense. Hopefully I'll be able to provide further context for it in the future, but I really enjoy it, so I thought I'd share it early:
So long as anything exists in this universe, just one infinitesimal speck of cosmic dust, some lonely, quivering little quark, then one exists. If one exists, then so do zero and two and negative one. In fact, one carries with it into being all of mathematics: addition and multiplication and algebra, calculus and general linear matrices and an uncountably infinite number of points called z in the complex plain that probably don't lie within the Mandlebrot Set. Mathematics isn't something we invented. It isn't something we observe or model. It is the simplest, purest fact of reality. It is the direct consequence of the universe being something other than the empty set.
So long as anything exists in this universe, just one infinitesimal speck of cosmic dust, some lonely, quivering little quark, then one exists. If one exists, then so do zero and two and negative one. In fact, one carries with it into being all of mathematics: addition and multiplication and algebra, calculus and general linear matrices and an uncountably infinite number of points called z in the complex plain that probably don't lie within the Mandlebrot Set. Mathematics isn't something we invented. It isn't something we observe or model. It is the simplest, purest fact of reality. It is the direct consequence of the universe being something other than the empty set.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Introducing Fairly Green
I'm in a pretty horrible class right now on Software Project Management. We're working in groups on a case study, and our group's involves a first-time PM named Fairly Green. We were supposed to present our project charters today, and the professor suggested that we should treat it as if we were actually presenting to corporate officers at our fake company. This irritated me, as 90% of the class was doing the same case study, so presenting on our charter instead of discussing the decision making process that we followed in developing it seemed like a waste of time (it was). As such, I was planning on giving our group's presentation alone in character as Fairly Green. I spent more time than was probably good for my sanity developing a character for him, but when our group decided at the last minute to all present together, I wound up not being able to utilize any of it. So, here's a brief profile of Fairly Green. Maybe we'll get some short vignettes about his daily life before too long.
Fairly is a professional software engineer. 30 years old, he was born and raised in rural Pennsylvania by parents who provided for him adequately but were always busy with their own active social lives. He has a good sense of humor about his ridiculous name but less of one about his family. Case-in-point: when people ask about his name, he has an unfortunate tendency of responding that he, "asks [his] mother about it every Thanksgiving, but she's never been sober enough to give a coherent answer." He's never recognized how uncomfortable this makes virtually everybody.
Fairly graduated in the top 20% of his class from Notre Dame. Smart, but not brilliant, he worked incredibly hard for that ranking and only managed to form a handful of meaningful relationships over his time in college. Still, Fairly is diligent, detail-focused, and knows the name and birthday of everybody he's ever worked with. Shortly after graduating, he followed his girlfriend, Janet, to Maryland. She was raised in an Annapolis suburb and wanted to move back near her parents. He found work as a QA tester at Innovative Security Solutions, Inc. after a three month job search, during which he lived with and grew close to Janet's parents. He has since become a senior developer at the small company.
Fairly and Janet happily married a year after the move to Maryland and now have two children: three-year-old daughter Kayla and 8-month-old son Garret. They live roughly 45 minutes from Janet's family, who are an active part of the life of the young family and are all too happy to the ensure that Fairly and Janet get time to themselves at regular intervals. Having a young family is always trying, but ISS pays Fairly a competitive salary with generous benefits. As such, Janet, who was a biology major and began nursing school before quitting during the first pregnancy, has been able to act as a stay-at-home mom.
Fairly was always very close to his maternal grandparents, who lived in upstate New York. His grandmother died 3 months ago after a long battle with ovarian cancer that metastasized to her pancreas. This was itself painful, obviously, but it was made significantly worse when his grandfather started exhibiting signs of dementia in the final months, robbing both of them of having meaningful interaction in her final days. Fairly moved his grandfather to assisted living near himself and Janet shortly after.
As a reaction to these unfortunate events, Fairly briefly sought the chance to take on an enhanced role in raising his children. He suggested that he could move to reduced hours and work partly from home and encouraged Janet to pursue some of her tabled dreams and finish her RN certification. She refused, saying she at least wanted to wait until both kids were in school, and he gave up on it after a couple of weeks. Instead, Fairly threw himself into his work as a distraction. His supervisors took notice of his sudden dedication and assigned him PM duties on a new project, designing the control system and interface for a new, high end surveillance system. He and Janet were initially excited by the promotion, but both are beginning to regret it as it increases his hours, especially on weekends, keeping him from having much meaningful time with the children. They're making it work, but he's nearly ready to tell his superiors where his priorities rest.
Fairly is a professional software engineer. 30 years old, he was born and raised in rural Pennsylvania by parents who provided for him adequately but were always busy with their own active social lives. He has a good sense of humor about his ridiculous name but less of one about his family. Case-in-point: when people ask about his name, he has an unfortunate tendency of responding that he, "asks [his] mother about it every Thanksgiving, but she's never been sober enough to give a coherent answer." He's never recognized how uncomfortable this makes virtually everybody.
Fairly graduated in the top 20% of his class from Notre Dame. Smart, but not brilliant, he worked incredibly hard for that ranking and only managed to form a handful of meaningful relationships over his time in college. Still, Fairly is diligent, detail-focused, and knows the name and birthday of everybody he's ever worked with. Shortly after graduating, he followed his girlfriend, Janet, to Maryland. She was raised in an Annapolis suburb and wanted to move back near her parents. He found work as a QA tester at Innovative Security Solutions, Inc. after a three month job search, during which he lived with and grew close to Janet's parents. He has since become a senior developer at the small company.
Fairly and Janet happily married a year after the move to Maryland and now have two children: three-year-old daughter Kayla and 8-month-old son Garret. They live roughly 45 minutes from Janet's family, who are an active part of the life of the young family and are all too happy to the ensure that Fairly and Janet get time to themselves at regular intervals. Having a young family is always trying, but ISS pays Fairly a competitive salary with generous benefits. As such, Janet, who was a biology major and began nursing school before quitting during the first pregnancy, has been able to act as a stay-at-home mom.
Fairly was always very close to his maternal grandparents, who lived in upstate New York. His grandmother died 3 months ago after a long battle with ovarian cancer that metastasized to her pancreas. This was itself painful, obviously, but it was made significantly worse when his grandfather started exhibiting signs of dementia in the final months, robbing both of them of having meaningful interaction in her final days. Fairly moved his grandfather to assisted living near himself and Janet shortly after.
As a reaction to these unfortunate events, Fairly briefly sought the chance to take on an enhanced role in raising his children. He suggested that he could move to reduced hours and work partly from home and encouraged Janet to pursue some of her tabled dreams and finish her RN certification. She refused, saying she at least wanted to wait until both kids were in school, and he gave up on it after a couple of weeks. Instead, Fairly threw himself into his work as a distraction. His supervisors took notice of his sudden dedication and assigned him PM duties on a new project, designing the control system and interface for a new, high end surveillance system. He and Janet were initially excited by the promotion, but both are beginning to regret it as it increases his hours, especially on weekends, keeping him from having much meaningful time with the children. They're making it work, but he's nearly ready to tell his superiors where his priorities rest.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
An Open Letter to the Board of Trustees of Calvin College from a Recent Alumnus
To the Board of Trustees of Calvin College:
I first visited Calvin College in the Summer of 2004. I was on a trip touring six prospective colleges around the Midwest, only two of which were Christian. In considering colleges, I suspected that I wouldn't have a particularly easy time trying to be both a Christian and a scientist, and I feared that attending a Christian institution could make my task even harder. Even if I would be free of the skepticism that secular scientists often to have towards people of faith, it would be practically impossible to grow as a scholar if I wound up under the watchful, censoring eye of the sorts of Christians who remain suspicious of science.
I was relieved to find in Calvin a place where it seemed this would not be a problem, a place that would warmly accept and encourage my growth in both areas. It was a place that recognized Scripture and Creation as twin pillars of revelation and promoted the natural harmony between the two. It was a school where evolution was embraced and where theology professors would challenge their students to move beyond the faith of their childhood. I didn’t even bother applying anywhere else.
Starting in the Fall of 2005, I spent a fantastic five years at Calvin studying Computer Science and taking electives ranging from Introduction to International Relations to Metaphysics to Abstract Algebra. I found Calvin to be a place that recognized that the best way to spread the Gospel was by engaging the world in a Christlike way. Distinctly Calvin concepts like discernment and renewal, though lovingly mocked by Calvin students, became core to the way I interact with the world.
While many Calvin students come from families that have attended the school for generations, Calvin never seemed like an institution content to simply pass on the same old truths that had served in years past. Instead, Calvin strove to be a legitimate actor in academia, giving students opportunities to do real, meaningful work with a chance to impact the wider world. This isn't always easy. It requires us to ask difficult questions and to discuss and even debate divisive issues both with our neighbors and with ourselves. There is no topic on which human knowledge is complete. Just as Science represents our current best understanding of how God has ordered the Universe, Theology represents only our current best understanding of how God relates to Creation. Neither understanding is fixed, and we need to look at these challenging issues that in order to advance.
Calvin offered, in my eyes at least, a place where we could approach these challenges secure in the knowledge that Scripture and Creation have the same author and cannot be at odds with one another. Under this worldview, we are free to investigate any apparent discrepancies from both ends, trusting that the beauty of God's handiwork will allow us to relieve these tensions in time. At Calvin, Christianity serves not as a barrier to research in controversial fields, but as the driving force behind all scholarship. Years spent surrounded by professors motivated in this way encouraged me to pursue a PhD of my own in order to join in this good work.
Unfortunately, it seems like something is starting to change at Calvin College. With the events leading to and surrounding the resignation of Professor Schneider, it seems that academic freedom is slowly being limited in areas where modernity and tradition collide. If I loved Calvin less I would not care, but Calvin stands for something important to me, and it is painful to see it turn away from the values that make it special.
I understand that evolution and polygenism raise difficult questions about the nature of The Fall and Original Sin, core tenets in any reasonable understanding of God's relationship with humanity. However, we must seriously consider the apparent contradictions between orthodox theology and modern genetics. Who better to grapple with this and other problems than those professors who have served faithfully and proven their commitment to Christianity and its ideals? These are the people we must trust to find a conclusion that stands up to scrutiny from both Special and General Revelation.
Certainly, it is up to Calvin College and its leadership to decide whether or not they are committed to giving their trusted, tenured professors the support necessary to seek out the undiscovered connections between Science and Scripture without fear of reprisal from those who doubt whether the lines will ever meet. If Calvin chooses not to support its professors in this way, they would seem to be betraying the mission I witnessed them champion during my time there, leaving me reluctant to continue supporting an alma mater for which I have such high expectations.
As such, I implore you to reaffirm your commitment to engaging God’s world as it is rather than as we wish it to be. We are all residents of a fallen world, and as Christians, we are called to participate in God’s ultimate plan of restoration. This becomes easier when institutions like Calvin support and celebrate the efforts of their professors, even when the ultimate outcome is unclear. Do not let recent events turn into a trend of attacks on the intellectual freedom of your most valuable resources: the faculty, students, and staff of Calvin College.
Thank you,
Jonathan Walz
Class of 2010
I first visited Calvin College in the Summer of 2004. I was on a trip touring six prospective colleges around the Midwest, only two of which were Christian. In considering colleges, I suspected that I wouldn't have a particularly easy time trying to be both a Christian and a scientist, and I feared that attending a Christian institution could make my task even harder. Even if I would be free of the skepticism that secular scientists often to have towards people of faith, it would be practically impossible to grow as a scholar if I wound up under the watchful, censoring eye of the sorts of Christians who remain suspicious of science.
I was relieved to find in Calvin a place where it seemed this would not be a problem, a place that would warmly accept and encourage my growth in both areas. It was a place that recognized Scripture and Creation as twin pillars of revelation and promoted the natural harmony between the two. It was a school where evolution was embraced and where theology professors would challenge their students to move beyond the faith of their childhood. I didn’t even bother applying anywhere else.
Starting in the Fall of 2005, I spent a fantastic five years at Calvin studying Computer Science and taking electives ranging from Introduction to International Relations to Metaphysics to Abstract Algebra. I found Calvin to be a place that recognized that the best way to spread the Gospel was by engaging the world in a Christlike way. Distinctly Calvin concepts like discernment and renewal, though lovingly mocked by Calvin students, became core to the way I interact with the world.
While many Calvin students come from families that have attended the school for generations, Calvin never seemed like an institution content to simply pass on the same old truths that had served in years past. Instead, Calvin strove to be a legitimate actor in academia, giving students opportunities to do real, meaningful work with a chance to impact the wider world. This isn't always easy. It requires us to ask difficult questions and to discuss and even debate divisive issues both with our neighbors and with ourselves. There is no topic on which human knowledge is complete. Just as Science represents our current best understanding of how God has ordered the Universe, Theology represents only our current best understanding of how God relates to Creation. Neither understanding is fixed, and we need to look at these challenging issues that in order to advance.
Calvin offered, in my eyes at least, a place where we could approach these challenges secure in the knowledge that Scripture and Creation have the same author and cannot be at odds with one another. Under this worldview, we are free to investigate any apparent discrepancies from both ends, trusting that the beauty of God's handiwork will allow us to relieve these tensions in time. At Calvin, Christianity serves not as a barrier to research in controversial fields, but as the driving force behind all scholarship. Years spent surrounded by professors motivated in this way encouraged me to pursue a PhD of my own in order to join in this good work.
Unfortunately, it seems like something is starting to change at Calvin College. With the events leading to and surrounding the resignation of Professor Schneider, it seems that academic freedom is slowly being limited in areas where modernity and tradition collide. If I loved Calvin less I would not care, but Calvin stands for something important to me, and it is painful to see it turn away from the values that make it special.
I understand that evolution and polygenism raise difficult questions about the nature of The Fall and Original Sin, core tenets in any reasonable understanding of God's relationship with humanity. However, we must seriously consider the apparent contradictions between orthodox theology and modern genetics. Who better to grapple with this and other problems than those professors who have served faithfully and proven their commitment to Christianity and its ideals? These are the people we must trust to find a conclusion that stands up to scrutiny from both Special and General Revelation.
Certainly, it is up to Calvin College and its leadership to decide whether or not they are committed to giving their trusted, tenured professors the support necessary to seek out the undiscovered connections between Science and Scripture without fear of reprisal from those who doubt whether the lines will ever meet. If Calvin chooses not to support its professors in this way, they would seem to be betraying the mission I witnessed them champion during my time there, leaving me reluctant to continue supporting an alma mater for which I have such high expectations.
As such, I implore you to reaffirm your commitment to engaging God’s world as it is rather than as we wish it to be. We are all residents of a fallen world, and as Christians, we are called to participate in God’s ultimate plan of restoration. This becomes easier when institutions like Calvin support and celebrate the efforts of their professors, even when the ultimate outcome is unclear. Do not let recent events turn into a trend of attacks on the intellectual freedom of your most valuable resources: the faculty, students, and staff of Calvin College.
Thank you,
Jonathan Walz
Class of 2010
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