Natalie Chehrazi

AME 341-A
Monday Section
The Faade of Equality
After reading Identity Crisis by Brian Hayes my perception of computer programming
and the definition of equality were altered. I found this article to be provoking due to its
abstract nature. Hayes dissects the term equality in concert with its relevance in computer
programming, while simultaneously commenting on the structures of society. To me this
article was compelling from a psychological standpoint. I found that the various
definitions of equality represented the abstractions within the seemingly black and
white literalliteral world of engineering, mathematics, and science. Initially one would
think that a concept like equality would be concrete when in fact equality seems to be the
grey space. In both the programming world and in reality, equality is entirely based on
perspective and therefore defined by context. The literal-minded little world of the
digital computer is contrasted with the unconscious allowances and adjustments
humans make for the subtle ambiguities of identity and equality. It seems as though
humans and computer programs accept the contextual definitions to replace inequalities
and provide a sense of stability. Programming most clearly reflects the humans inability
to exist without categorization, generalization, or identification to provide order.
Likewise, the structures of a program for a computer clearly imitate the structures and
rules put in place in material society on a smaller, yet similarly simplistic scale. These
structures have both created rules that manufacture equality. To me this image of a
manufactured equality reveals how rules simply exist to define the unknown or
unexplainable occurrences in the universe. Programming reveals the flaw of equality
because the simplicity necessary to have one definition of equality clashes with reality. In
this article I found that Hayes analysis of equality with respect to physics solidified his
argument. He states that nothing is equal if it changes, yet everything changes; therefore
no two things are the same. This idea of inequality is shown through programming as
well. Distinctly seen in Hayes use of identifying numbers and addresses. Ultimately
computer programs and rules mask this constant inequality of our existence in an attempt
to provide order where none exists. Hayes dissection of equality through the use of
programming and society clearly demonstrates the faade of equality through the
contextual definitions of the word that are simply unequal.