In honor of the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Snake, it is only fitting to post about all things serpentine. And growing up I studied the Taoist arts under a man who was like a second father to me, Dr. Fred Ming-An Wu. The I Ching is a big part of those studies and not too long ago when I started to explore the Python computer language, the two managed to collide. You see, in Python there is something called a ‘for’ loop, simply because it begins with the word ‘for’. Using the example provided below, the code starts by defining a list named ‘cities’ that includes the name of six cities. The code then introduces a ‘for’ loop that tells the computer to iterate through each ‘city’ in the list called ‘cities’ and print them out one by one.
This is all pretty simple and for most programmers, it’s not particularly controversial. But for old guys like me that started out decades ago learning much older and less sophisticated computer languages, I am always impressed when a computer language is able to use undefined terms. In the example above, ‘cities’ is defined for the computer as a list and the contents of that list are provided. The words ‘for’, ‘in’, and ‘print’ are predefined terms, usually referred to as keywords, inherent to Python itself, but the word ‘city’ was never actually defined. In fact, the logic used in Python does not need that to be defined and the programmer can use just about anything that isn’t already a predefined term (e.g. keywords). So, the code could be changed to look like the example below and it will do the exact same thing as the code above:
Interestingly, and of relevance to this discussion, is the fact that even though the term used in the ‘for’ loop has no effect on the computer, it certainly has an effect on the human reading it. For example, what if the code is changed to something more positive and less neutral like this:
Now look at an example that goes completely in the opposite direction:
By simply changing the term used, one’s frame of reference for the list of cities completely changes – and changes dramatically. Whenever I am challenged by a reasonable scientifically minded skeptic regarding the method by which superstitious fortune telling or so-called New Age tools like the I Ching could possibly work, I give them this example from Python. They can’t help but experience the extreme back-and-forth mental assignments they themselves inevitably ascribe to the list ‘cities’. Then I tell them that this is simply what the I Ching does. It changes the term we are using to look at our life, and by simply changing that term, a whole new frame of reference is opened up through which one is able to consider things they never thought about before in dealing with whatever situation one is facing.
So, the next time your interest in the I Ching is challenged, don’t get offended or defensive. Take the opportunity instead to teach your would-be critic some valuable computer programming skills. 恭喜发财 (best wishes, happiness, and prosperity) to you this new year! Here’s wishing you all the best during the Year of the Snake and may all your divinations be filled with ‘vacationspots’.
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