Guess what? You can work on your MathLAN account remotely using a browser:
Go to karp.cs.grinnell.edu
Log in
Click Launch Session
In the pop up window, click on XFCE and then Launch
Another tab will open up that will look like a desktop on a MathLAN computer
Note: It is annoying to impossible to copy and paste from the MathLAN window into anything on your own machine, so be thoughtful about where you type things and the potential need to re-type them or share them another way.
The readings on the history of operating systems made me aware of how little I knew about some of the fundamental computing concepts behind the technology I use everyday. One of the concepts that I have been trying to understand is the distinction between computer languages, programs, and operating systems. From what I understood an OS is a package of software that mediates the users’ interaction between the hardware and other computer programs. The OS is itself written in a computer language although it operates on different levels of abstraction from languages like html.
The more technical background on the development of Unix was enlightening, but it also reminded of the distinction between knowledge of and knowledge that. I have exceptionally little knowledge of how a car works, I couldn’t explain to you the principles behind the combustion engine, but I do know that when I turn the key, the car starts. In other words I think the intricacies of the technological development of OS are interesting, but I’m more interested in learning how to “drive the car” so to speak.
To that end, I was interested in some of the theoretical discussions about labor, property, and capital. One of the greatest potentials of technology is to liberate people from manual labor and to improve standards of living. A Marxist reading might also pose ethical questions about the consequences of the technological revolution and the conditions it has produced. We might question the commodification of our private data and the sale of customer’s personal information to advertising companies on sites like Facebook and Google.
For Monday’s class my group read “Living Inside the (Operating) System: Community in Virtual Reality” by John Unsworth. The idea that arose in class in regards to the relationship between this reading and the other groups’ readings was about how the reality of capitalism was subliminally woven into the other texts, even though my group’s was dedicated to this idea for the most part. Capitalism is the world that I’m familiar with and things like research funding, patents, and work for pay are just a part of the way the world works to me. So that point really gave me another opportunity for reflection on how the way I see the world is not necessarily the world.
In regards to the part of my reading that focussed on what Unsworth meant when he talked about a “virtual community”, as we were going through our jigsaw discussions, I tried to picture how these kinds of discussions could be simulated in the digital world. In a way, I am paying tuition in order to be a part of discussions like this, but linking this whole image back to the question of what place an open-source digital environment plays in capitalism, I wonder how much of my educational experience could be outsourced to a digital environment, and what does that mean for all this money I am paying in order to be here. I’m starting to realize that our world is still sort of growing into its own potential as far as digitization is concerned. It makes me really curious what sorts of changes I’ll see in the next few decades of my life and what affect that will have on the way we structure our society.
I felt that despite the more dense readings of Monday, we all were able to have a very engaging and productive discussion that went beyond my anticipation of what we would talk about. In doing my reading in preparation for class discussions, I often find that I forget that there are going to be two other readings for the class. Thus, having the “jigsaw” method always provides for an exciting addition of knowledge and perspective to what I believe we will discuss.
While we didn’t delve especially deep into this in class (it also appeared that Unsworth was a bit unclear on this as well), I am curious about the discussion of property and labor. Specifically, I am curious about the detachment of the human from humanity, where human is used and seen as the mode of production rather than an autonomous being (I am not sure if this is what people were referring to with Marx, as my memory of and exposure to Marxist theory is somewhat limited to a history class in high school).
Regarding my specific reading by Ritchie, one thing that seemed odd to me was the blend of technological history and social history. It felt like Ritchie was just adding random little “but it really was fun, and we were a community” type of notes in between large chunks of dense info on Multics and Unix. After talking on end about Unix as we know it today, Ritchie even chose to end the paper with a paragraph on looking back at his time at Bell Labs with a “rosy glow.” I thought this might tie into what we have been talking about regarding the treatment of creation as a fun thing rather than as a job.
As a side note, I struggled with writing this blog post, as I felt that there were many ideas brought up in class that were hard to unpack (you may notice that this post feels a bit all over the place). However, knowing that we usually continue and touchback on previous discussions, I know that things will become more clear!
